JOHN 



JOHNSTON 




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THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 



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OTHER MESSAGES 




1905. 



THE 
QUESTION OF THE HOUR 

AND 

OTHER MESSAGES 




J 

JOHN T/W'JOHNSTON, D. D. 



press OF 

E. W. STEPHENS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI 

1905. 



^ 






©ebicafeb 



TO THE 

LITTLE WOMAN I LOVE 

WHO FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS 

HAS FILLED MY HEART 

WITH INSPIRATION AND 

MY HOME -WITH SUNSHINE. 



By Transfer, 
31JV06 



Delmar Study 

St. Louis, U. S. A. 

December Twenty-Fifth 

Nineteen Hundred and Five. 



BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION. 

BY WALTER WILLIAMS. 

The theme, the occasion, the speaker — these 
three make for the success or failure, upon the 
human side, of spoken words. The sermons and 
addresses which this volume contains are upon 
the greatest themes which may engage man's 
mind. They touch the deeps of life. The occa- 
sion of the speaking has been notable — a great 
city pulpit, a college platform, the gathering of 
the Baptist churches of a mighty state and nation, 
the assembling of the Baptists of the world. With 
noble theme and with the inspiration of occasions 
such as these the personality of the speaker has 
full play to make impress for lasting good. When 
there is added the Spirit's blessing it is not 
strange that this preaching of one has been God's 
means for the healing of many. 

The presentation in printed form of impor- 
tant and inspiring words is ever to be commended. 



vi INTRODUCTION. 

Audiences come and go but the printed words re- 
main for permanent usefulness. The wine of 
speech thus makes glad for years and years. Not 
all spoken words are thus desirable for preserva- 
tion. What have been here gathered assuredly 
come within the scope of the desirable. "The 
Question of the Hour," the sermon which gives 
title to the volume, pleads eloquently for a recog- 
nition of the Deity of Jesus Christ, the cardinal 
fact of Christianity. Other addresses and ser- 
mons are filled with helpful thoughts, expressed 
in clear and sparkling phrase. Gems which merit 
quotation and remembrance will be found on 
every page. The author says that which is worth 
while. Moreover he says it in fitting phraseology. 
The skeleton of thought has clothing of the attrac- 
tive flesh and blood of language. 

Back of every spoken word stands the speak- 
er. His personality lends strength or gives weak- 
ness, wins hearers or loses. The personality of 
John T. M. Johnston gives strength, attracts 
hearers. He is strong without abatement of gen- 
tleness, energetic without subtraction of con- 
sideration. Born in an interior Missouri countv, 



INTRODUCTION. vii 

he had the best of all training, the farm and the 
country town. He knew toil and never shirked. 
The knowledge stands him in good stead in the 
multitudinous duties of a metropolitan pastorate. 
Some preachers are preachers first, and afterward, 
or not at all, real men. Dr. Johnston reverses 
this. He was a man among men before he en- 
tered the pulpit and has never gotten over it. He 
has never forgotten that which he learned in busi- 
ness and political life. He turned aside from the 
allurements of politics and business to take up 
the work of teaching from the pulpit. Hence his 
sermons show the grasp of a man who knows 
business from the inside, who understands the 
temptations of politics, remembers the worka- 
dav world. 



CONTENTS. 



/I. Question of the Hour 

•II. Planning for the Kingdom 

III. The Universal Law 

«*•*" iv. The Family 

V. The Loving Father 

VI. The Wonder of the New Life 

VII. The Greatest Sentence in Literature 

VIII. An Epoch in Baptist History 

IX. The Upreach for a Crown 

X. Visions and Plans 

XI. The Name Above all Others 

XII. The Bible in Building Character 

XIII. John Mason Peck 

XIV. Joseph Parker 

XV. Charles H. Spurgeon 

XVI. W. Pope Yeaman 

XVII. E. W. Stephens 

XVI II. Louisiana Purchase and Protestantism 

XIX. Effect Louisiana Purchase Exposition on Religion 

XX. Battle of Virginia Baptists 

XXI. World now Ready for Bible Truths 

XXII. Baptist World Congress 

XXIII. Observations in Great Britain 

XXIV. Winning Missouri to God 



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17 

35 
47 
59 
69 
81 

9 1 
105 
119 

135 

147 

J 59 

179 
199 
221 

227 

2 33 
249 
257 
269 
277 
291 
3°7 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

"Whom say ye that I am?" 



Baptist World Congress, Sunday. 
Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 
London, 
11 A. M., July 15, 1905. 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Aside from the exact sciences there is hardly 
a question that engages the mind of man that 
is not susceptible of apparently sound reason- 
ing in support of either side. 

The most prominent character of history 
asks this vital question, "Whom say ye that I 
am?" This question has engaged the thought 
of individuals and nations for centuries. It is 
worthy your consideration on this Sabbath of the 
Baptist World Congress, the first meeting of 
its kind in the world, a gathering that should 
mark an epoch in the Kingdom of God. 

This question has engaged the thought of 
men with such tremendous force as to change 
the current of events, and lift the world from 
the period of its lowest ebb in morals to its 
present comparatively high plane of civiliza- 
tion. 

"Whom say ye that I am?" The One who 
asks this question answers it, "He that hath 
seen Me hath seen the Father, I and the Fa- 
ther are one." This declaration of Jesus that 
He Himself was one with God, answers the 
question of the hour, of the century, of the 
ages. 

(3) 



4 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

That great gatherer and dispenser of intel- 
ligence, " the daily press," now goes into almost 
every home. Its disposition in a great meas- 
ure, is that of an iconoclast; it gives promi- 
nence to the expressions of men who, in the 
pulpit, question or deny the divinity of Christ. 
One of the preachers whose utterances have 
been given special publicity, is highly favored 
mentally, and by painstaking industry has 
equipped his brilliant mind, with a wealth of 
riches which he has lavishly given to the 
world. Through tongue and pen he has sent 
forth messages that have been an intellectual 
and spiritual feast to thousands. 

In a recent sermon, published in a magazine 
widely read in both England and America, he 
tells the life story of Jesus beautifully, but 
treats Him as a mere man, "the son of a car- 
penter." He credits Him with an exalted char- 
acter, and places Him above all other men, 
yet only a man. He finishes his charming pic- 
ture with these words : "I leave the story of 
Jesus with you. I wish I could have given it 
better. For myself there is no man in history 
whom I so wish to follow. A life that is set 
to make the world happier, full of peace, purity, 
goodness and truth, a life that is all patience 
and love with all men, that life is the one life 
that is worth living." 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 5 

This portrait of Jesus painted by this skill- 
ful and talented artist, lacks the central, the 
main motif, it lacks the basal truth of Christi- 
anity, the Deity of Christ. 

This minister earnestly affirms that Jesus 
was the ideal man of the race, that His life 
was perfect. — Nay: "Christus non Deus non 
bonus." If Christ is not God he is not good. 
If He is not worthy of worship He is not 
worthy of respect. How can we regard Jesus 
an ideal character if He claims to be what He 
is not? Truth was the vital element of His 
teaching. If we deny His heavenly origin, His 
was not a perfect life, but that of a dissembler 
and deceiver. He claimed to be one with God 
the Father; if He is not He is an imposter, an 
imposter who polluted his lips with blasphemy. 
No mere aesthetic admiration can hide the hid- 
eous moral rent in the character of Him who 
said, "I and the Father are one, all men should 
honor the Son even as they honor the Father," 
if he knew He did not possess the real essence 
of the Father . 

The life of Jesus zvas a perfect life. We put 
no unbelieving restraint on the annunciation, 
— "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and 
the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, 
therefore that Holy One that shall be born 
of thee shall be the Son of God." 



6 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Not only the five thousand disciples gathered 
here in London from all parts of earth testify 
to His perfection and deity, but the friends and 
enemies of Jesus who lived in His days on 
earth in the flesh, who were with Him and 
watched Him under all sorts of circumstances, 
testify that he did no sin, that He was worthy 
of worship. Judas who betrayed Him, in an 
agony of remorse so powerful that he killed 
himself, confessed it was innocent blood he had 
been the guilty means of shedding. Pilate, 
the Roman Governor, who signed His death 
warrant, says, "I find no fault in him." The 
officer in charge of the crucifixion affirms, "Of 
a truth this man was the Son of God.'' 

The denial of the divinity of Christ is fatal 
to Christianity, it inevitably leads to the de- 
struction, one after another, of all its doctrines. 
As the sun is the day, so the divine Christ is 
Christianity. Standing out in the New Tes- 
tament is one masterful "I" claiming unshared 
and unsharable sovereignty and He who 
utters it is Jesus of Nazareth. He never 
said, "thus saith the Lord," but "verily verily, 
/ say unto you." He spake as one having au- 
thority, original authority, and in no sense as 
did Moses and the prophets. The prophets 
spoke as servants, Christ spoke as Master. 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 7 

In deciding a question, especially one so con- 
sequential, we should not only examine and 
weigh the testimony, but the character of the 
witnesses should be considered in giving cre- 
dence to what they say. The Old Testament 
bristles with prophecies pointing to Christ as 
the coming Savior of the world. This theme 
is the golden thread running through all its 
pages. The moral law written on tablets of 
stone is a schoolmaster leading to Christ. The 
symbols and rites of the ceremonial law are 
finger boards pointing to Him. It was of Je- 
sus Moses wrote when he said: "The seed of the 
woman" — mark the distinction, "the seed of wo- 
man," not the seed of man — "shall bruise the 
serpent's head." Isaiah prophesied that the 
coming Christ was to be "The mighty God, 
the everlasting Father," Daniel "The Mes- 
siah," Haggai "The desire of all nations," 
Malachi "The Messenger of the Covenant, the 
Sun of Righteousness." 

The angels of heaven were filled with won- 
der when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and 
their anthems of praise broke forth in such 
volume as to be audible on earth. The shep- 
herds hearing their song were filled with fear, 
when the soloist of the heavenly choir said to 
them: "Fear not, for behold I bring you good 



8 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

tidings of great joy, which shall be to all peo- 
ple, for unto you is born this day a Savior, 
which is Christ the Lord." The wise men who 
followed the star, recognized the babe as a 
King and worshipped Him. 

When Jesus was baptized by John in the 
river Jordan as He came up out of the water, 
that voice, the witness from heaven, said, 
"This is my beloved Son." And of Jesus, 
John the Baptist said "Behold the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sin of the world." 

Hear the loving John whose head was so 
often pillowed on the bosom of Jesus: "In the 
beginning was the word, and the word was 
with God and the word was God." Saul was 
honored with words from Jesus some three 
years after His ascension: "Saul why persecut- 
est thou me?" "Who art thou, Lord?" "I am 
Jesus whom thou persecutest." Listen to the 
testimony of this eminent barrister: "He is the 
blessed, the only Potentate, King of kings and 
Lord of lords." 

When Christ asked His disciples "whom say 
ye that I am?" Peter answered "Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said, 
"Blessed art thou Peter." And the same liv- 
ing Christ in Bloomsbury church this morn- 
ing, in all England and America, every where 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 9 

throughout the world is promising blessings 
this very hour to the man who answers this 
question as did Peter. 

Thomas refused to believe the testimony of 
others as to the resurrection, but when Jesus 
appeared and said "Thomas reach hither thy 
hand and thrust it into my side, and be not 
faithless but believing," Thomas exclaimed 
"My Lord and my God." If Jesus was not God 
could He be honest and accept without pro- 
test the title of God and receive the worship 
of man ? 

When on the Island of St. Helena, where en- 
forced idleness gave time for meditation, Na- 
poleon, the man who never met defeat till he 
met an Englishman, said, "I think I under- 
stand somewhat of human nature, and I tell 
you all the heroes of antiquity were men, and 
I am a man, but not one is like Jesus Christ, 
who was more than man. Alexander, Cae- 
sar, Charlemagne and myself founded great 
empires ; but on what did the creations of our 
genius depend ? 'Upon force.' Jesus alone founded 
His empire on love and to this day millions would 
die for him." 

Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the prime of his men- 
tal vigor, at the age of 57, thirteen years ago, 
said, "I acknowledge no other Master than 



io THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Christ. I wish to follow where He leads, I be- 
lieve whatever He says and I have no ambi- 
tion. Oh : I wish it were true that I never had 
any other ambition than to be like Him. He 
is my Master because He bids me follow where 
He leads, because He gives what I can take, 
because He promises what He can fulfill. / 
believe in the Divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

Surely with all this testimony it is not too 
much to suppose that Jesus was honest. He 
was a fervent hater of shams, imposture, hy- 
pocrisy, false tradition and deception of every 
kind. His character and life have been searched 
with lighted candles, but no man has been so 
base as to tarnish His spotless name. 

Listen to his first message when entering 
His ministry at His home synagogue: "The 
spirit of the Lord God is upon me, He hath 
sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to give 
them beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, 
praise for heaviness." Who can bind up the 
broken hearted but Jehovah ? 

The Samaritan woman at Jacob's well said 
to Jesus, "I know the Messiah cometh, which 
is called Christ ; when He is come He will tell 
us all things." "I that speak to thee am He." 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR, n 

Bartimeus who was born blind and had been 
given sight by Jesus, when he was cast out of 
the synagogue for confessing Him, Jesus 
sought him and said "Dosjt thou believe on the 
Son of God?" "Who is He Lord that I might 
believe on Him ?" "It is He that talketh with 
thee." Bartimeus said "I believe," and wor- 
shipped Him. "The Jews said unto Him 'thou 
art not fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abra- 
ham ?' " "Verily I say unto you, before Abra- 
ham was, I am." 

Philip said to Jesus, "Show us the Fath- 
er and it sufnceth us." "Have I been so long 
with you and hast thou not known me, Philip ? He 
that hath seen me hath seen the Father." His 
Apostles were slow to realize that the mission 
of Jesus was two-fold, to reveal God and re- 
deem man. "God was in Christ reconciling the 
world to Himself." 

On many other occasions He declared He 
was one with God and the whole tone of His 
teachings was that of a King. 

He was not like other men. He never asked 
forgiveness of sin. There is no trace of sin 
in His life, and no evidence of repentance. This 
was not the case with any other man. Mo- 
hammed only claimed to be a prophet of God. 
He attached no importance to his person, nor 



12 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

would he allow his followers to do so. When 
in the Orient a few years ago, I heard often 
the call to prayer from the minaret of the 
mosque, "There is but one God and Moham- 
med is his prophet; come to prayer!" Gauta- 
ma, the founder of Buddhism, and one of the 
greatest of moral teachers, refused to allow his 
followers to entertain any idea of himself other 
than that of teacher. 

Confucius, one of the noblest of sages and 
moral philosophers, gathered and transmitted 
many truths that are living in his followers to- 
day, but nothing is thought of his person aside 
from its association with the truths he pro- 
pounded. Homer, Socrates, Plato, Horace, 
Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, and many 
others have enriched the world with their 
thoughts, but their persons have not entered 
man. Not so with Christ. He gets into the 
hearts of men with His own personality, dom- 
inates their lives and through them continu- 
ously reveals Himself to others with an ever 
widening force, which is to-day the greatest up- 
lifting and transforming power in the world. 
It was the personality of Christ engrafted in 
such men as Wesley, Spurgeon, Moody, Carey, 
Judson and thousands of others, that filled 



THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR 13 

their hearts with love for the Divine Master 
and joy in extending the glories of His King- 
dom. 

With the name of Jesus orators inspire pa- 
triotism, poets linger over His story as bees 
about a clover blossom. His life has lent 
sweetness to the music of Bach, Beethoven and 
Handel ; majesty to the chisel of Angelo, and 
genius to the brush of Raphael. 

The great names of history are many, and many 
more will adorn its future pages, but the name 
of Jesus towers above them all as the sun 
above the clouds. His name is in a class alone. 
His teachings, reinforced by His spotless life, 
together with His power to save, will continue 
to redeem man for all time. 

The lever will never be forged in the 
smithy of criticism sufficiently strong to 
overturn the Rock of Ages, — the Divine 
Christ. The fiercest gale that will ever 
rage in the turbulent sea of investigation, will 
never blow out "The Light of the World." 
We need not fear the theories of mistaken 
friends, nor the attack of open enemies. When 
they have passed away the glorious truth that 
the Divine Christ is the perennial fountain from 
which flows eternal life, will stand as unmoved 
as the Rock of Gibraltar by the waves of ocean. 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 

"Thy Kingdom come." 



Introductory Sermon. 
Missouri Baptist General Association 
Chillicothe. Mo., 
October 17, 1904. 



II. 

PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 

The General Association of Missouri Bap- 
tists is not gathered here in the city of Chilli- 
cothe to commemorate past achievements nor 
for the joys of social hand grasp, neither to be 
entertained with eloquence, but to plan work 
and to work plans. With this- thought in mind 
I have chosen as a subject, "Planning for the 
Kingdom. " Scripture "Thy Kingdom Come." 

When the Spaniard meets his neighbor he 
has a habit of greeting him with the question, 
"Manana?" "What of the morrow?" Thus 
he throws life into the future and makes it the 
important period of time. In the story of our 
lives, and the story of the world, and the story 
of the Kingdom the Spanish question is time- 
ly. "What of the morrow?" 

Christ stands ready with the answer, "Ye 
shall see greater things." Jesus stands before 
Nathaniel and the whole world and opens 
wide the door of the future when he says, 
"Ye shall see greater things." Ye shall. Shall 
is the language of hope. Shall is an oft 
repeated word with Jesus. He is ever using 
it as a trumpet to call man to look with confi- 
dence to the unmeasured possibilities of the 
future. 

17 

2 



18 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

This earth has had a great past. It has 
fed and clothed the millions that have trod 
its soil during the ages of its existence. Is 
the old earth wearing out? Are her greatest 
glories in productiveness in the past? Nay, the 
acme of her producing power is yet to come, 
for she is constantly adding to the number, var- 
iety and perfection of grain and fruit. Mother 
earth has not grown poorer from her centuries 
of bearing, but richer, and we are yet to have 
larger and better grain and fruit ; and flowers 
in greater variety and richer in fragrance and 
beauty. 

A few thousand years ago there was only 
one kind of rose, the wild rose. Now, there 
are three thousand varieties. Twenty years 
ago there were but few kinds of chrysanthe- 
mums. To-day there are seventeen hundred 
varieties. It has not been many millenniums 
since there was only one kind of apples, the 
wild crab. Just a few years ago the seedless 
orange was produced and only a few months 
since seedless peaches and grapes were grown. 

The history of man has ever been a record 
of achievement. Such genius has he displayed 
in making the world's forces serve him, that 
the most startling inventions cease to be a 
wonder. 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 19 

In St. Louis to-day are evidences of the 
world's material progress sufficient to daze the 
thinking mind, but the Louisiana Exposition- 
does not reveal one tithe of what the future 
has in store. 

Scientists and inventors are to reveal se- 
crets more marvelous than radium or wireless 
telegraphy. Do you not believe that in the f 
near future we are £9 fly with the birds, and I 
converse with the inhabitants of other worlds ? \ 

Not only has our material past been a pro- 
gressive one but our spiritual condition has im- 
proved with the centuries. The story of the 
Kingdom, its beginning and growth, its trials 
and triumph, its battles and victories, is thril- 
ling enough to stir the blood. But the story 
of the Kingdom is not half told, for messengers 
of the Gospel, in increasing numbers are to 
push into all quarters of the globe, witnessing 
with such power that nations are to be born 
in a day. Much of the soul-winning history- 
has been wrought, but the greater part is 
stretching away into the beyond. 

Our Baptist denomination has had a glor- 
ious past. Standing as it ever has for liberty 
of soul, freedom of conscience, an open Bible, 
separation of church and state, a voluntary 
membership, and old-fashioned religion of ex- 
perience. 



20 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

When we consider the influence of these bas- 
al doctrines on the world's uplift, we rejoice 
in her splendid past, but the truths for which 
our Baptist churches stand are to prevail in 
far wider range. 

Augustus Strong, in "Our Denominational 
Outlook," says : "Baptist principles will stand 
the test of advancing intelligence and the tre- 
mendous march of culture and civilization." 
"For," says he, "they are the only principles 
that can stand the test, for they are built on 
Christ, the solid Rock and on the conception of 
a spiritual church against which He Himself 
has said, 'The gates of Hades shall not pre- 
vail/ " 

But my message is not of the denomination's 
future but of your own in its relation to the 
kingdom of God. 

What are you planning for the future of 
God's Kingdom? This is a proper ques- 
tion, for man lives mostly in the future. The 
beast lives altogether in the present, but God 
is ever talking to man of the future. Take 
the future tense out of the Bible and you will 
reduce its pages one-half, and rob it of all hope, 
promise and power. 

To know a man's plans is to know the man, 
and to forecast his future. He who is our ex- 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 21 

ample faced His earthly career with definite 
aim and perfect plan. And the burden of His 
planning, preaching and praying was for the 
Kingdom. His oft-repeated word, "Kingdom." 
The very heart of our Lord's prayer, "Thy 
Kingdom come." What precedes this sentence 
are pure expressions of worship. 

"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed 
be thy name." 

What follows is only a specialization of life's 
daily needs. "Give us our daily bread, for- 
give our debts, lead us not into temptation, de- 
liver us from evil." 

But all the great purposes of our Master's 
mission, all that one could wish or ask or hope 
for himself or for mankind are epitomized 
in the petition of our text, "Thy Kingdom 
Come." Christ's prayer was not for the com- 
mencement of the Kingdom. For God's king- 
dom existed before the first planet was launch- 
ed on its celestial journey. Christ Himself 
was the founder of the Kingdom for "by Him 
were all things created." He did not establish 
it by force of arms, but by witnessing for the 
truth, by humble ministers, by deeds of love, 
by sacrificial suffering. 

As it was founded, so it is to be ruled, not by 
tyranny, but by the suasive influences of love 



22 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

over freely surrendered hearts. Christ is the 
vital germ of the Kingdom. In Him its power 
and graces are manifest. He made its laws 
and established its principles. He is King. 

The realm of the Kingdom is not confined 
to the inner life. Though Jesus never speaks 
of the effects of His gospel on art. on litera- 
ture, on commerce, on politics, nor on econom- 
ical or social reform, yet its regenerating 
spirit has gone forth into all these departments 
of society and state. Its life-giving principle 
is working from within outwards and is des- 
tined to renew and transform every sphere of 
earthly existence. 

Friends, when the burden of Christ's pray- 
ing and planning was for the Kingdom, should 
not His disciples catch His spirit and make the 
controlling passion of their lives to pray and 
plan for the Kingdom? 

Before the achievement of any great thing 
is the plan, back of the plan a vision, the 
dream. 

What are your dreams? What are your 
plans for the Kingdom of God? 

You have visions and plans for your own fu- 
ture ; visions and plans for an enlarged bus- 
iness, plans for your children's education and 
start in life, plans for your ease and comfort 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 23 

in your old age, plans by insurance and invest- 
ments for your family after you have left them 
and gone into the immediate presence of your 
King. What will you say when asked, "What 
plans did you leave for the advancement of 
My Kingdom?" "When you were providing 
Jn your will for your loved ones on earth did 
/you remember Me?" 

I am persuaded that you have had visions of 
advancing the Kingdom by your own labors 
and gifts which have never been realized, be- 
cause the vision was not followed up by de- 
vout, courageous planning. There is no life 
so powerless as the life without a plan. None 
so powerful as the one with an adhering plan. 
One of the largest wholesale houses in the 
world has for its motto : "Plan thoroughly your 
work, then thoroughly work your plan." 

Moses planned for the release of God's peo- 
ple from bondage. David planned for the uni- 
fication of Israel's kingdom, and the building 
of a temple to Jehovah. Nehemiah planned 
for the restitution of Jerusalem. Jesus became 
the embodiment of all God's great plans for 
the redemption of the world. Jesus ever clung 
to His planned purpose to reveal God and to 
redeem man. 



24 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Many of us have failed in advancing the 
Kingdom, not because we lack knowledge, 
faith or brotherly love, but because we had 
no well denned plan. While the word plan is 
not found in Scripture, the Old and New Testa- 
ments, reveal plans of God for the extension of 
the Kingdom. 

The words plan and plant are derived from 
the same root. The three essentials to plant 
life are the root, the foliage and the fruit. The 
root or basis of spiritual life is faith, the fo- 
liage is the plan, the fruit is the work. 

The law of spiritual life is the same law that 
governs all life. There can be no fruit with- 
out the foliage, there can be no work with- 
out the plan. 

Jacob had a vision from God, but it would 
have been valueless to the Kingdom had it 
not been followed by devout, courageous plan- 
ning. Not till Jacob vowed to give one tenth 
of his possessions to God did he come into line 
with Providence and power. Not till he rec- 
ognized his stewardship was he transformed 
from Jacob, the rascal, to Israel, the Prince of 
God. Any man who will recognize that he is 
God's trustee and plan as earnestly and sys- 
tematically for the Kingdom as did Jacob, will 
also become a Prince of Heaven. 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 25 

God has given us in the past an age of proph- 
ets, then an age of poets; to-day we have an age 
of money-makers. Prophets and poets work- 
ed in their day and in their way for the increas- 
ing of the Kingdom. And now, God means 
that the monetary power he has given us, 
whether in modest sums or in millions, shall 
be used to bring His Kingdom to come on 
earth. 

An old Jew came into my prayer meeting 
a few weeks ago and asked for the privilege 
of speaking. He was from the oldest city on 
earth. The city where dwelt the "Friend of 
God." A patriarch who also gave one-tenth of his 
possessions to the Kingdom. The old Jew 
said : "I am going up and down the earth with 
a single message, to call the people to the giv- 
ing of tithes," When he added that Jesus said 
of tithing, "This ye ought to have done," I 
felt that I too should make my mission the call- 
ing of God's people to the divine doctrine of 
stewardship. 

"To whomsoever much is given, of him shall 
much be required." 

This is the closing, clinching sentence of our 
Lord's parable on stewardship which teaches 
that life is God's most sacred trust. That life 



26 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

is not ours to do with as we please, but it must 
be accounted for, every power, every possi- 
bility of it. If you forget what I have said, re- 
member this — whatever God has given you 
whether it be physical strength or mental 
ability, whether it be deftness of hand, clearness 
of head, or warmth of heart, that whatever 
you may possess of culture, of education, of 
personal attractiveness, or of this world's 
goods, in no case is it entrusted to you because 
of God's favoritism, but in every case it is a 
call of God to service in his Kingdom. 

In planning and giving Missouri Baptists 
have not kept pace with their blessings. In 
the past twenty years we have increased in 
wealth 500 per cent, but in gifts not quite 100 
per cent. In 1884 under the magnificent lead- 
ership of Dr. Yeaman we raised for State Mis- 
sions $16,000. Since that time the wealth of 
the farming community has increased 400 per 
cent. And in the cities, the manufacturing and 
commercial wealth one thousand per cent. So 
you see we are falling short of our fathers in 
proportionate giving. 

I hail the laymen's conference of Wednes- 
day afternoon. God grant that our noble lay- 
men may be moved to plan for the Kingdom 
with the same zeal and acumen that charac- 
terize their business brain. 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 27 

Laymen of Missouri, will you not be stirred 
to larger planning and giving by Missouri's 
pioneers? Wm. Jewell, a layman, gave one- 
half of all his possessions to further the King- 
dom. To-day he is known and reverenced by 
multiplying thousands, while his neighbors 
who clung to their money lie forgotten in their 
graves. 

The self-centered man is soon forgotten, the 
self-sacrificing man lives in the affections of 
coming generations. 

Jas. L. Stephens, a layman, gave about one- 
half of his wealth to advance the Kingdom. 
Chas. Hardin, whose wife so recently joined 
him in heaven, gave one-third of his belong- 
ings to increase the kingdom. Stephen Wil- 
hite, Roland Hughes, Wade M. Jackson, R. E. 
McDaniel, Uriel Sebree, these honored lay- 
men who planned and wrought so mightily 
gave at least one-tenth of their means to the 
Kingdom. 

If such sacrificing zeal should characterize 
Missouri Baptists to-day, what mighty mar- 
vels would be wrought! 

The average annual income of the Baptists 
of Missouri is now $20,000,000.00. The tithe 
of that is $2,000,000.00, Surely we ought to 
give God one-tenth of the bounty he bestows 
upon us. 



28 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

I plead for personal responsiveness in the 
matter of gifts. The beast is not responsive, 
therefore not responsible. The capacity to re- 
spond carries with it responsibility. 

When one beholds the achievements of the 
past — gathered up in such serene, resplendent 
glory as are seen from the base of Louisiana 
monument, or the gliding gondola, when mil- 
lions of electric stars are sparkling, and God's 
stars are casting a silver glow upon the en- 
chanting scene — that picture nearest to the 
New Jerusalem ever seen by man — he can but 
ask, "Shall we see greater things?" When 
all the electricity pent in earth's bosom shall 
shine forth in resplendent brightness ; when 
her mines shall pour forth in rivers of gold ; 
when all her hidden forces have been discov- 
ered and brought to perfection ; when every be- 
ing shall have mastered the material universe ; 
then, even then, man must not be satisfied, for 
God is not satisfied. Not till all things shall 
be overshadowed by the divine element; not 
till every hill shall reverberate with the echoes 
of salvation ; not till every tongue shall confess 
Jesus as Lord; not till the fulfillment of the 
promise of a new earth wherein dwelleth 
righteousness, will the prayer be answered, 
"Thy Kingdom come on earth." 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 29 

"Watchman, what of the night?" In this 
the morning of the twentieth century, let the 
past speak. 

A hundred years ago there were fewer Bap- 
tists in all the world than are represented here 
this evening. In 1800 the census of the United 
States shows that only seven per cent were 
church members. The census of 1900 gives 
34 and 6-10 per cent. A century ago in the 
Empire of China, with its four hundred mil- 
lions, there was not an evangelical believer. 
Among India's millions there were only three 
Christians. Sixty years ago there was not a 
native in black Africa who had ever heard of 
Jesus. To-day in these countries there are 
thousands of heralds of the Cross and millions 
of subjects of the Kingdom. 

A hundred years ago between the Mississip- 
pi river and the Pacific ocean there was not 
one Protestant church, today, there are over 
25,000. A hundred years ago the United 
States and continental Europe were saturated 
with infidelity and atheism. The writings of 
Voltaire and Paine were gospels for millions. 
Now one seldom meets an infidel or an atheist. 

It was only fifty-one years ago that Commo- 
dore Perry sailed into Japan harbor with our 
seven ships of war. Japan had been a sealed 



30 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

nation for two hundred and fifteen years, al- 
lowing none of her citizens to leave and 
no foreigner to enter. Not an avowed Chris- 
tian in the nation. Signs were posted all over 
the country, threatening death to any who 
should become a Christian. To-day the name 
of Jesus is known all over the "flowery king- 
dom." That little nation is making a great 
sacrifice of life and property to retain and en- 
large her kingdom. The Mikado may win at 
Port Arthur and increase his kingdom: The 
Czar of Russia with his hordes may defeat Jap- 
an and temporarily enlarge his kingdom, but 
it matters little who wins or who is the Czar 
of Russia, the Emperor of Japan, the Dowager 
of China, or the King of England, for these 
kingdoms are to increase and diminish and 
sooner or later to come to an end, but the 
King of the Pierced Hand will increase His 
Kingdom until it becomes universal. "Of the in- 
crease of His government, there shall be no end." 
France once had dreams of a universal em- 
pire with Napoleon as Emperor. A late au- 
thor portrays a Universal Republic. Says he : 
"All monarchies and kingdoms must perish, 
but out of the chaos will come a world-wide 
republic. That all mankind will be welded in- 
to one nation with one President, with laws 



PLANNING FOR THE KINGDOM. 31 

so just, free and equal that every man will be 
a loyal citizen." 

Never ! Never ! ! Republics and Monarchies 
alike shall pass away. The only reign that can 
become universal and eternal is that of the 
"King of the Nailed Hand." He is to reign 
forever and ever." 



THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 



THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 

'Give and it shall be given onto you.' 



Delmar Pulpit. 

April 2, 1905. 

Morning Service. 



III. 

THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 

The axioms given by Euclid, "Things that 
are equal to the same thing are equal to 
each other, things that are halves of the 
same thing are equal, the whole is greater 
than any of its parts," and so on through the 
twelve are accepted as self evident truths, but 
Euclid's axioms do not enunciate principles 
so positively certain as the maxim set forth 
in these words of our Saviour, "Give and 
it shall be given unto you." This statement 
of Jesus is not only a maxim, it is a principle 
that pervades all God's laws material and 
spiritual ; it applies to every realm of His Uni- 
versal domain. 

"Give and it shall be given unto you" not 
only in kind but in greatly increased quantity. 
A pious mother took her boy of ten to Echo 
Valley in the mountains of Switzerland. The 
lad had never heard the echo. His mother told 
him there was a boy in the valley who would 
answer if he would call him. At once the lad 
cried, "Hello Sir !" The mountain echoed back 
"Hello Sir!" Surprised, the boy cried: "Who 
are you?" and the mountain answered "Who 
are you?" Irritated the boy cried out "I don't 

35 



36 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

like you!" Straightway the voice answered 
"I don't like you V s This reply was too much 
for the child's sensitive nature. His lips began 
to quiver, and his eyes filled with tears, as he 
said, ''Mother, I think that is a very disagree- 
able boy." 

She advised the lad to give kind words to 
the unseen stranger. He sent a kindly greet- 
ing and in return received overtures of friend- 
ship. "Hello Sir! I like you." — The moun- 
tain echoed "I like you." — "Come over here 
and I will show- you my things." The answer 
came, "Come over here and I wall show you 
my things." The boy gave a shriek of glad- 
ness. The mountain echoed it several times, 
each time growing softer and sweeter. "Give 
and it shall be given unto you." This law per- 
vades your life and mine. Give kindness and 
kindness is returned, give love and love is sent 
back, give hatred and you are answered with 
antagonism. 

"Nature's echoes die in yon rich sky. 

They faint on hill, and field and river, 
Our echoes roll from soul to soul, 
And grow forever and forever." 

"Give and it shall be given unto you." 
Christ here states a universal law. All deeds 



THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 3? 

are seeds, give them time and they will bear 
fruit. If the deed is good, the fruit will be 
happiness; if bad the reward is misery. 

The farmer gives the seed, nature returns 
the sheaf; the woodman gives the sturdy 
stroke of the axe, in return the cross-tie, the 
beam, the shaft ; the inventor gives his genius, 
in return the loom, the sewing machine, the 
reaper, the engine. Each gives his labor and 
nature responds with rich increase. 

There is nothing magical about God's gifts 
to men. Everything is controlled by his laws. 
The good, the evil, the selfish, the unselfish all 
give and all receive in like quality, but in 
greatly increased quantity. This is the law of 
spiritual harvest. 

If you would know the scholar's joy, you 
must pay the price of hours of study; if you 
would have the inventor's reward, you must, 
like Howe, Stephenson, Goodyear, Watt and 
Edison give yourself intensely to an idea. 

The more you give the greater harvest you 
will receive. He that soweth sparingly shall 
reap sparingly. He that soweth bountifully 
shall reap bountifully. 

The universal law of give and receive, is il- 
lustrated constantly before our eyes in every 
field of nature. The soil gives itself to the 



38 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

roots of the tree and each season the falling 
leaves return to the soil making it richer than 
before. The grain of wheat in seed gives it- 
self to stalk, the stalk ripens a thousand grains 
giving them back in return, and in one gener- 
ation will return enough to sow the world. 

But Christ in this exposition was speaking 
more particularly to His twelve apostles whom 
He had just chosen and His reference in the 
words of our text is to spiritual things rather 
than material. Yet he uses the processes of 
nature with which His disciples are familiar 
to illustrate the truths and all His illustra- 
tions show the universal harmony of God's 
laws. 

This law of give and it shall be given unto 
you has no better illustration in the annals of 
the world than the story of Christ. He pour- 
ed forth His treasures of unstinted love and 
the world in return has given treasures back 
to Him. 

He gave His love, which is the bread of life, 
even to the extent of dying on the cross that 
the bread of life might go out to the lost world, 
and many thousands in return have died the 
death of martyrs in love and loyalty to Him. 

He gave His work which is the salt of life, 
and millions in return have given a life of la- 
bor to His Kingdom. 



THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 39 

He gave to the world the sweetness of life, 
hope, and multitudes have given back to Him 
the incense of their gratitude and their hope 
is centered in Him. 

He gave to the world the water of life, 
faith, and millions who drink at this fountain 
give to Him confiding hearts. 

Jesus arose above all limitations, yet never 
for one moment did He forget man but spent 
all His treasures of mind and heart in love and 
service. In return the common people still 
hear Him gladly and in abandon of love give 
themselves back to Him. 

He gave himself to childhood, He took the 
little children in His arms and blessed them. 
To-day millions of children linger over the 
story of Jesus, and give Him their songs, 
their love, their lives. 

How glorious this life of Christ, how won- 
drous its beauty ! Jesus gave beauty to every 
phase of life. In return the artist gives the 
beauty of a "nativity" "the transfiguration." 
The architect the majesty of a cathedral. The 
musician the inspiration of the "Gloria." The 
poet the praise of his heart, and so on un- 
til civilization itself is a great pouring forth 
of gifts that men are measuring to Him who 
gave Himself for them. 



40 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Christ gave his love to recanting Peter and 
Peter in return gave his whole life to Christ. 
Christ gave His affections to the loving young 
disciple, John, who, in return, gave the treasures 
that are found in the greatest of the gospels. 
Christ gave Himself to Paul, and Paul in re- 
turn gave the riches of his life and epistles. 

The blessings which Christ gives carry with 
them conditions. The wonderful workings of 
this wonderful law must become operative in 
those to whom He gives. They must become 
givers. They must apply in their own hearts 
and lives the maxim, "Give and it shall be giv- 
en unto you." 

He gave His love to Bunyan, and Bunyan 
in return gave his whole heart and soul to God, 
and as a result we find in ''Pilgrim's Progress" 
and "Grace Abounding" the rich returns for 
thus giving his heart to God. And to Bunyan's 
giving he has a double harvest. He gives the 
riches of his grace, his love, his hope, to his 
fellowmen and their hearts in turn go out to 
him. On Elstow Green recently I saw more 
than two thousand from all parts of the world, 
representing millions, gather to bless his mem- 
ory and return to him at least a tribute to the 
fruits of his giving. 



THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 41 

So it was with Spurgeon. He gave his labor, 
his love, his heart, to his Lord and to his fel- 
lowmen, and in return his harvest was almost 
unprecedented in the life of a worker in 
Christ's vineyard. His body is buried but 
his spirit still lives and influences those who 
were blest through his ministrations. 

We cannot compute the returns that come 
to a man from doing a generous or good deed 
to his fellowman, for in so doing he does it un- 
to Christ, who said, "In so much as ye did it 
unto one of these least ye did it unto Me." A 
good act blesses him that gives and him that 
receives; it enlarges the heart of the giver, it 
expands the soul, it builds character which is 
the great purpose of life. 

Our text does not here refer to the giving of 
money or material aid, although that comes 
within the scope of the universal law, but it 
refers to that which is more precious and 
brings larger returns, it refers to your heart, 
your love, your individual self. A kind word, 
a warm grasp of the hand that carries with it 
unquestioned evidence of love, the giving of 
sympathy and personal interest will do more 
to win the world to Christ and bless humani- 
ty than dollars. 



42 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Fannie Crosby gave her heart to God and in 
return He flooded her life with the beauty of 
His truths, which she in turn gives to the 
world in sacred song. Can you conceive of the 
joys and blessings that came to the heart of 
blind Fannie Crosby in return for giving her 
life unreservedly to God? 

How rich the returns to Watts, to Cowper, 
and to Tennyson who said he felt the con- 
sciousness of the presence of Christ as dis- 
tinctly as that of his niece who was walking 
by his side. He gave his heart to God and the 
riches of the returns are feebly expressed in 
the beautiful words of his poems which have 
done, and are still doing so much to bless the 
world and for which he is receiving the hom- 
age of grateful hearts throughout civilization. 

And this law works with equal certainty on 
the side of retribution. The evil as well as 
the good have their reward. "Whatsoever a 
man soweth that shall he also reap." If he 
sows laziness and sloth he reaps poverty and 
want. If he sows lies and deceit, he reaps 
dishonor and disgrace. 

If you give to God purity you shall receive 
a vision of righteousness. If you give 
thoughts to the beauties of nature, and medi- 
tate on the grandeur of God's universe of land 



THE UNIVERSAL LAW. 43 

and sea, of sky and earth, He will clothe your 
spirit with grandeur and beauty. If you con- 
template the goodness of God — goodness will 
enter your soul. 

If thou wilt come to Christ and give Him 
thy penitent heart He will give to you Him- 
self as Savior. Give Him your tears and His 
tender pierced hands will wipe them away and 
replace them with a smile. Surrender to Him 
your will, and He will set up in your heart the 
kingdom of Heaven. 

The genius of Christianity is the giving of 
one's self in service to Christ and one's fellow- 
man. Christ is the source of the Christian's 
happiness, wisdom, faith, love and hope, and 
His voice is ever calling to His disciples say- 
ing, "freely ye have received freely give." 

The story of Paul, and all of earth's true no- 
bility, is that of a life whose talents, posses- 
sions, in fact all gifts and graces, are held as 
trusts to be used in service. 

Oh, how good God has been to you, and you, 
and you, to trust you with so much. Will you 
be true to that trust? 



THE FAMILY. 



"THE FAMILY." 

'God said it is not good that man should be alone. I will 
make him an helpmeet for him." 



Dblmab Pulpit. 
April 9, 1905. 
Morning Service. 



IV. 

THE FAMILY. 

Our text gives the origin of the family. Altho 
Adam and Eve lost their first estate, God in 
His mercy allowed them to bring the ordi- 
nance of marriage from the garden of Eden, 
an ordinance which has proved a blessing to 
all the ages of the world. 

Divine wisdom and beneficence are no- 
where more clearly seen than in the institution 
of the family. 

From the family sprung the clan, from the 
clan the tribe from the tribe the nation. Our 
own great nation is but a family of states, and 
each state is but a family of municipalities, 
and the municipality is but a family of famil- 
ies, all united for mutual help and protection. 

Our church, Delmar, is a family of families 
united for mutual help, social, intellectual, 
spiritual, and the volume of our mutual help 
and power for good, depends on the puri- 
ty, the harmony, the happiness and spiritual 
strength of the individual families which con- 
stitute the church. 

Incidents of the past week have led me to 

4? 



48 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

direct my message this morning to the individ- 
ual family and to each member of it. 

"Children obey your parents for this is 
right, — honor thy father and mother: which 
is the first commandment with promise: that 
it may be well with thee and thou mayest live 
long on the earth." "And ye fathers, provoke not 
your children to wrath : but bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord." 

The home is the chief school of human vir- 
tues. Its responsibilities, joys and sorrows, 
smiles and tears, hopes and solicitudes, form 
the chief interest of human life. But this sacred 
place is not exempt from suffering if sin is al- 
lowed to abide within its portals. No family can 
keep sin from the home unaided. Parents who 
introduce religion into the home, dig a well of 
living water, they secure a fountain of blessings 
that will help them in the struggle against evil. 

Family religion promotes family blessings: 
temperance, frugality, industry, discretion, 
peace, quietness, harmony, love and the favor 
of Almighty God. 

David said "I have been young and now am 
old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsak- 
en, nor his seed begging bread," and a greater 
than David said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and His righteousness and all these 



THE FAMILY. 49 

things shall be added unto you" — that is pros- 
perity so far as will be good for you and your 
family. 

How shall we introduce Jesus into our fam- 
ilies and keep Him there ? Not by introducing 
gloom. Jesus came to the world to bring hap- 
piness. He made His purpose clear in His 
first sermon: "Behold I came to bring beauty 
for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for heavi- 
ness." 

The neglect of family duties is alien to the 
spirit and teaching of Christ, in fact the doing 
of them is an important part of His teachings. 

Religion is not something distinct and 
apart from every day duties. When one is 
rightly performing the duties incident to busi- 
ness in any of the relations of life, he is serv- 
ing God "Diligent in business, fervent in spirit 
serving the Lord." 

The Christian home is the sphere for exer- 
cising practical religion. Therefore we should 
make the home safe, attractive, instructive, in 
fact a preparatory school for life. 

Our children do not read the Bible enough 

to guide them, or even to find out what God 

would have them do, but they do read us. We 

are almost the only book on Christian evi- 
4 



50 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

dence they read, their eyes are constantly up- 
on us. Let us keep the book of evidence clean 
and pure, a constant witness for Christ. 

One way of showing wise love for our chil- 
dren is by reproof of their errors. It is a mer- 
cy to give reproof for wrong, and much mercy 
to give that reproof to the young. Strange as 
some parents may think it, the self-indulgence and 
self-will they so carelessly foster in their children, 
instead of making them happy and strong, gives 
rise to all sorts of pettishness and weakness. 
Our indulged children come to think that all 
must dance to their music, and when things go 
wrong, they fly to pieces and flood the very at- 
mosphere with their discontent. 

It is not the pampered, self-willed, indulged 
child that develops the most charming personal 
traits or the noblest ideals, but the one that has 
encountered rebuffs and endured hardships. 

Dr. Breckenridge once said to his mother: 
"Mother, I think you ruled us with too rigid 
a rod in our boyhood, it would have been bet- 
ter had you used gentler methods." The old 
lady straightened up and said, "William, when 
you have raised three as good preachers as I 
have, then you can talk." 



THE FAMILY. 51 

I do not mean to convey the idea that we as 
parents should necessarily extend to our chil- 
dren corporal punishment, — but they should 
know that we abhor evil, and that our tender 
love and solicitude for them add to that ab- 
horrence great pain when the evil is in one so 
dear to us. 

I met a mother who had spent several 
months from home at a summer resort. Her 
son, a youth almost a man, was with her, and 
leaving in advance for home, said to her, 
"Mother I have done nothing since we came 
here that I would not do in your presence." 
This young man's love and respect for his 
mother prevented him from doing what he 
knew would give her pain. 

Dr. Cuyler recently paid this tribute to his 
mother: "My mother was one of the best God 
ever gave to a son. She was more to me than 
school and college, and pastor all combined. 
It was her constant influence that led me to a 
religious life." 

The character of the mother stamps its in- 
fluence on the child for weal or woe, beginning 
with early infancy when the mind is plastic. 
Her influence is in advance of the Sunday 
school or any other agency in or outside the 
home. 



52 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

It is mainly the mother who shapes the 
home influence and imparts to it its prevail- 
ing atmosphere: and the most important part 
of moral education is atmospheric. 

The purity or impurity of the atmosphere 
of the home depends largely on the mother. 
She can make or mar the destiny of an immor- 
tal soul beyond any power this side of the 
throne of God. Susannah Wesley's hand rings 
the Methodist church bells around the world to- 
day. 

. The mother is chiefly responsible for the 
moral and spiritual welfare of the household. 
If she is frivolous and prayerless or even care- 
less of the spiritual condition of her children, 
the home atmosphere catches the contagion of 
her spirit. The downward pull of her six days 
home preaching is too strong for the upward 
pull of the best preaching in God's house on 
the Sabbath. 

If the mother does her utmost to make re- 
ligion attractive to her family, if she is watch- 
ful of every opportunity to lead them Heaven- 
ward, if she follows the effect of the Sabbath 
gospel with the powerful influence of home 
gospel, God will send into that home his con- 
verting and sustaining grace. 



THE FAMILY. 53 

And the life of the father is but little less im- 
portant than the mother's in its influence on 
the home atmosphere. Especially is this the 
case as the children advance in years. His pres- 
ence in the home should not only give gladness 
and strength to the mother, and happiness and 
good cheer to every member of the family, but 
he should be so strong in character and honest 
in purpose that his spirit will be ingrafted into 
every member of the household. 

The father's position as the head of the fam- 
ily makes it imperative that his example be one 
that his children can follow. 

Robert E. Lee at one time, when at home, 
walked out in the early morning to his barn, 
and as he turned he observed his young son 
intent in his efforts to step in his fathers tracks 
which were made in the snow which had fal- 
len the night before. He said it was a solemn 
moment when he realized that his son was fol- 
lowing in his footsteps. 

However, we have many examples where 
unfortunate sons and daughters have brought 
sorrow to the home — children of pious par- 
ents reared with the same environs as others 
who brought joy. It was so in the first fami- 
ly. Cain and Abel were characters of marked 



54 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

contrast. Isaac had his Jacob and Esau. The 
sons of the pious Samuel brought sorrow to his 
heart. The father of the prodigal had also an 
obedient son, but his love for the prodigal 
was unceasing, and if any of us have erring 
children we should bear the cross with forti- 
tude never closing our hearts to the unfortu- 
nate son or daughter. 

"Children obey your parents for this is 
right." Obedience is the law of the universe; 
without it everything would rush to anarchy 
and chaos. 

Law is all pervasive. It covers every depart- 
ment and relationship of life, and its breach in any 
sphere carries with it its own punishment. 

Obedience to parents in things lawful is no 
hardship. It is becoming and commendable be- 
cause it is right. Disobedience is a willful di- 
vergence from recititude and is the essence of 
all sin. 

It is no merit to do our duty, but such is the 
goodness of God that he attaches a special 
blessing to the child who obeys its parents. 

Dutiful obedience of children is declared by 
God in the fifth commandment to be the foun- 
dation of all social happiness and every virtue. 

Disobedience to parents is in the black list 
of crimes. It is classed with the worst: lying 
theft, adultery, and even murder. 



THE FAMILY 55 

The sons' or daughters' love to parents 
should show itself in acts of gentleness, re- 
spect and kindness, and in strict and ready- 
obedience. Both parents and children need the 
hallowed influences of a Christian home 
with its self-denial and consecration to worthy 
ideals, as a retreat from the noisy pleasure seek- 
ing distracting spirit of the age. Clubs and 
unions and lodges are well enough in their place, 
but the home should overtop them all. The outer 
settings of life have been exploited far beyond 
their intrinsic worth. The inner world of man's 
personality which revolves around the home must 
come to its own. 

We have only begun to taste of the riches of 
pure love and unspeakable happiness that is 
possible when our lives are attuned to the 
lives of others; and the Christian home affords 
the true starting point of this treasury of mutual 
affection. 

Here tenderness and purity, manhood and 
womanhood find their finest expression and 
truest growth. Here such noble ideals and gen- 
erous purposes may be cherished as to make 
the pretentious display of mere riches seem 
commonplace. 

Three essentials to the ideal home : The in- 



56 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

tegrity and unity of the family circle, the 
submission of children to parental authority, 
and a pronounced purposeful Christian atmos- 
phere. 



THE LOVING FATHER. 



"THE LOVING FATHER." 

'And when he was afar off his father ran and fell on his 
neck and kissed him." 



Delmar Pulpit. 
April 16, 1905. 
Morning Service. 



V. 
THE LOVING FATHER. 

The words of this text are from the deepest, as 
well as the most tender and pathetic of the word- 
pictures of Jesus. 

The name commonly given to this parable 
"The Prodigal Son" is of purely human origin. 

The central and dominant figure of the pic- 
ture is the "Loving Father," and the most 
striking characteristic and precious feature, 
the loving reception of his returning, repent- 
ant son. 

What are the lessons taught by the parable ? 

One may answer, "Forgiveness;" another, 
"The unsatisfaction of unrighteous pleasures;" 
another, "The joy of heaven over a returning 
prodigal." True, it teaches all these, but the 
truth that lies at the core and gives it greatest 
value is the infinite, the inexhaustible, the uncon- 
querable Love of God. 

Charles Wagner in "The Simple Life" says: 
"At the very heart of the Christian faith, the 
most sublime of its teachings, and to him who 
penetrates its deepest sense, the most human 
is this: To save lost humanity, the invisible 
God came to dwell among us in the form of 
man, and willed to make Himself known by 
this single sign, LOVE." 

59 



60 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

This parable of the Loving Father does not 
necessarily teach wisdom; it may not have 
been wise to give the inexperienced younger 
son his portion of the estate. 

It may not teach the lesson of justice. Pos- 
sibly the father was not just to the other mem- 
bers of his family, in making this prodigal who 
had wasted his share of the estate in profligate 
living, the special object of his attention and 
favors. The great thought of the picture is, God's 
eternal, yearning love. 

The prodigal, who by many is regarded the 
central or motif figure of this group, is some- 
times spoken of as a generous soul. Was he 
generous? NO: Prodigality and generosity 
are often confused but prodigality and generos- 
ity are never characteristics of the same person. 
He, who is prodigal with his money in the grat- 
ification of his own desires and pleasures, has 
neither the means nor disposition to be gener- 
ous to others. It is the industrious, the thrifty, 
the frugal and not the spendthrift who is gen- 
erous. 

Was it the spendthrift nature in such men as 
Richard M. Scruggs and James E. Yeatman 
that made them generous? It was my good 
fortune to be frequently with and see much of 



THE LOVING FATHER. 61 

the noble man, the late Richard M. Scruggs. 
His generous gifts reached near if not quite 
a million dollars yet he never wasted one. 
James E. Yeatman, the banker and philanthro- 
pist, was frugal that he might be generous. 

Was the prodigal's return home prompted 
by noble impulses? Methinks it was his ap- 
petite which craved to be satisfied from the 
abundance of his father's table. There was 
nothing in the son's character to attract and 
draw the father to his wayward boy. It was 
the love and compassion of his own bosom. 
The elder son had much more in his character 
to admire than the prodigal ; he was a dutiful, 
faithful, obedient son, on whom the father, 
doubtless leaned for comfort. The great les- 
son of the parable is God's unquenchable love 
for lost man. It is that LOVE that gives 
pathos and power to this masterpiece of 
Christ's parables. 

Notice, the prodigal suffered. The soul in 
sin must sooner or later suffer. Even God 
cannot make sin blessed. If so He would be 
false to his own nature. 

The prodigal had not only to suffer the 
pangs of hunger, and the humiliation of feed- 
ing swine, the most degrading service for one 
of his caste, but he suffered loneliness and 
friendlessness. 



62 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Yes, the prodigal suffered want. Sin always 
spreads in its wake a famine of some kind. 
Want of food not only entails physical suffer- 
ing, but when brought on by profligacy, keen 
mental suffering is added to the physical. 

The prodigal was friendless, alone in his 
suffering; no friends, no companions, nobody 
caring for him. With all his banquets and 
lavishness, he had not gained a single friend. 
Sin never joins a bond of real sympathy and 
true friendship. Sin is not a means by which 
friends are made. 

Walking in paths, and living in the circle of 
the Father's love is the only right way to 
make friends ; business friends, church friends, 
enduring friends. 

The prodigal became a slave. A citizen of 
that far off land sent him to feed swine and 
eat with them. The man who yields to his 
physical desires and appetites sinks to the level 
of the animal, and grovels in the same mire. 

Who can tell the suffering of this young 
man whose sin had brought him to such a 
plight? But relief comes to this intensely 
painful feature of the picture, with the words, 
"He came to himself." He had been beside 
himself, had been living without thought of 
his father, or home or moral responsibility. 



THE LOVING FATHER. 63 

When he came to himself repentance began, 
and he was filled with humiliation and shame. 
Some recollection of the old home and father's 
love kindled a spark of hope which said, "I 
will arise and go to my father." With no 
trunks to pack, no friends to bid "good-bye" 
and no ticket to purchase he is soon off on the 
happiest journey of his life. 

When, from an elevation, he catches the 
first glimpse of the home of his childhood, 
memory crowds upon his mind his ingrati- 
tude and disgrace. His trembling limbs re- 
fuse to bear him on. With an anguish un- 
speakable he is almost ready to fall, when he 
feels the encircling arms of his loving father. 
In all his defilement, in all his raggedness, in 
all his misery, the tender father clasps him 
to his bosom and imprints upon his wan cheek 
the kiss of love. That kiss was a fitting seal 
of complete reconciliation. That warm em- 
brace assured the prodigal that he was not on- 
ly forgiven but that he was loved with a love 
that could not be consumed by the fires of sin, 
nor quenched by the floods of iniquity. 

Girdled by his father's arms, pillowed on his 
father's bosom, receiving his fond caress, the 
poor outcast realizes that his wanderings are 
over. 



64 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

But the lesson of this parable is not confined 
to men who have reached the lowest depths 
of degradation and sin. I know some men of 
good morals and fine characters, noble fellows, 
men with big brains and large capacities for 
achievement to whom the lessons of this parable 
should appeal with as much force as to the poor 
wretch whose prodigality brought him to want. 
Men who have been highly endowed by nature, 
but have turned their back on God, on His house, 
on His book, on His love. They are sinking be- 
neath the wave of prosperity and are uncon- 
scious of the need of some almighty hand to bear 
them up. 

There are times in life when the pressure of 
business is off, and times in its grind and whirl 
when one's best self longs for the help, the up- 
lift, the inspiration of Him who is mighty to 
save. 

It is hard to fight the lower nature. There is 
a warfare that goes on in the secret places of 
the soul, and in this battle we need a reserve 
force beyond our own, to give us the victory. 

There are dark days, bitter experiences, dis- 
appointments , sorrows, bereavements, when 
our strength fails, it is too weak for the emer- 
gency. It is then we want a loving tender hand 
to guide us from this dark valley to the hills 
where the sun is shining. 



THE LOVING FATHER. 65 

We shall not be here long. The curtain 
will soon drop, and the 4 drama in which we 
are all actors will shift to another world. 

Nothing will make it so safe for us to pass 
from this to that life, as to become a Chris- 
tain ; 'It doth not yet appear what we shall 
be, but we know that when He shall appear, 
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as 
He is." 

Is this not reason enough to be a Christian ? 

Will you not settle the matter now and 
make the supreme resolution — I will take the 
first all important step which entitles me to the 
royal name CHRISTIAN? Men who are so 
absorbed in getting, or in gratifying worldly 
ambitions, have said to God: "I want to be 
free from the restraints which thy paths im- 
pose." This was the spirit of the prodigal when 
he asked to be freed from the restraints of his 
father's home and love. 

While in health and strength will you not 
pause and consider your soul's poverty, which 
is the direst of all want? Will you not "come 
to yourself," and enter the conscious circle 
of God's love and the joys of a life in harmony 
with heaven? 

There is no joy in the highest sense, no abid- 
ing bliss save in walking in the paths and liv- 
ing in the environs of God's approving love. 



66 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

And to you who are blessed with health and 
abundance but living without the love of God 
in your heart, — oh my friends, there is just as 
much relief and joy awaiting - your return to 
your heavenly father as there was for this poor 
prodigal on his return to his earthly father. 

'Tis religion that can give 

Sweetest pleasures while we live; 
'Tis religion must supply 

Solid comforts when we die; 
After death its joys will be 
Lasting as eternity. 



THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE 



THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE. 

"If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creation. ' 



Delsiab Pulpit. 
April 23, 1905. 
Morning service. 



VI. 
THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE 

The greatest miracle of which we have re- 
cord, is the life of Jesus Christ. The crowning 
miracle of history is God manifest in the 
flesh: not manifest in a book, manifest in the 
flesh. 

If we should blot out all the miracles in the 
Bible, Christ remains an unanswerable proof 
of the truth of Christianity. 

The world does not now see Jesus in the flesh, 
but as long as there is a Christian living and 
Christ lives in him we need no other miracle. 
Christly character is the proof of the new 
creation in Christ, the demonstration that the 
world needs to-day. The reason the world is 
growing better and Christianity is spreading 
more rapidly than ever before is because more 
men and women are more worthily representing 
Christ. 

Neither new science, new thought, agnostic- 
ism nor criticism of the Bible can make head- 
way against truth, where the beauty and holi- 
ness of Christ shine forth in the life of the 
Christian. Shall we consider some of the won- 
ders of the new creation in Christ? It is 
wonderful in its origin; in fact all life is 

69 



7o THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

fraught with wonder. Philosophers will never 
pluck the heart out of the mystery of life. 

They cannot penetrate the depths of the life 
of the smallest flower that blooms with a dew- 
drop in its petal, nor can they unravel the se- 
cret of the life of the tiniest insect that floats 
and flutters in the sunbeam. 

Man has never been able to fathom the se- 
cret of life of any living thing that God 
created. 

Geologists have delved into the rocky strata 
and have paused and said: "Here is the first 
trace of life." 

When life began on earth no man knows; it 
was away back ages ago, but we do know that 
since man appeared on this planet no new form 
of life has shown itself. Many forms have be- 
come extinct but no new form has been created. 

The Government exhibit at the World's Fair 
showed many specimens of life now extinct, 
but it did not give one new form of life. If one 
should appear biologists from all lands would 
gather about the wonder. 

Natural life is perpetuated and propagated; 
but no new creation has appeared in the phys- 
ical world since Adam looked up to God from 
the garden of Eden. 



THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE 7i 

The Christ life, the new creation in the soul 
of man, is not transmitted life, not propagated 
life, nor is it life that dates back to the begin- 
ning of the creation, it is fresh from the spirit 
of God. 

Natural birth is the beginning of natural life, 
spiritual birth is the beginning of spiritual life. 
"That which is born of the spirit is spirit." 

The same terms that were used in describ- 
ing the beginning of physical life are employ- 
ed in describing the beginning of spiritual life. 
God said, "let there be light" and light flashed 
all over that dark chaotic mass, and then it 
was under the influence of the brooding spirit that 
life emerged upon this planet. In the begin- 
ning God created the heavens and the earth, 
and the earth was without form and void and 
darkness was upon the face of the deep. 

God, who in that old creation commanded 
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined 
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge 
of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. "No 
man can call Jesus Lord and Savior except he 
be born of the spirit." That same spirit im- 
parts a new life in the depths of the soul, and 
it was over this new creation that the morn- 
ing stars sang together, and the sons of God 
shouted with joy. 



72 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Wonderful this life in its source, wonderful 
in the transformation it works. 

This transformation is not so marked in the 
little child that sweetly looks up to its mother's 
face and sings : "J esus loves me, this I know, for 
the Bible tells me so." Beautiful blessed child- 
hood, even before the spirit imparts the geim 
of eternal life. And yet there is a change when 
the child receives Christ, though not so dis- 
tinctly marked. 

And so it is in the moralist whose life un- 
der the influence of a Christian home has been 
fairly good — the outward transformation is 
less perceptible. 

How different Saul of Tarsus. Behold him 
hounding the Saints to death. With blood- 
thirsty zeal he heads for Damascus, but when 
he enters the gates of that old city he had been 
transformed into a lamb, and meekly enquires 
the way to the house of a disciple named An- 
nanias and pleads humbly to know what he 
shall do to be saved. A wonder has been 
wrought; something has happened to Saul. The 
Christ life has entered into his soul. 

The name of the profane drunken tinker 
of Bedford, from whom mothers hid their chil- 
dren, was a byword even in that wicked town. 

Something happened to John Bunyan the 



THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE. 73 

tinker. He had taken no Keely cure, been 
through no reformatory, was not lifted to 
a higher life by the social settlement or any 
means of culture or education, but he was con- 
victed of sin, of righteousness and judgment. 
He cried, what must I do to be saved. He heard 
the voice of Jesus say "Look unto me and be 
ye saved all ye ends of the earth for I am God 
and there is none else." What nothing else 
could do for John Bunyan the grace of God 
could do in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye. 

Behold Augustine the reckless profligate 
who for ten years was the anxious object of 
Monica's prayers suddenly changed from a 
noted sin loving libertine to a revered teacher 
of gospel truths. 

John B. Gough the notorious drunkard made 
resolutions time and again only to be broken, 
till the spirit of God touched his heart and 
transformed Gough the drunkard castaway to 
Gough the Christian gentleman and orator. 

I know a man now preaching the gospel in 
this state whose change was as marked as that 
of Augustine or Gough. 

These are not idle tales but a few facts of 
the multitude. Abandoned men and women 



74 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

have been transformed into ministering saints 
who with shining faces walked the world 
breathing their benedictions on the sorrowing 
sons and daughters of men. 

These indisputable wonders have been 
wrought by the transforming power of the 
spirit of God. 

Such transformations are occurring all about 
us. I am now speaking to men and women who 
can say "He brought me up also out of the 
horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my 
feet upon a rock, and established my goings, 
and he hath put a new song in my mouth even 
praise unto my God." 

When one who once delighted in the ways 
of sin, turns his beaming face on his old com- 
panions and assures them that they need not 
pity him, for he has given up nothing that 
is worth having, that he finds sweeter satis- 
faction in the new life than in the paths he 
used to tread, they can but say, here is some- 
thing beyond comprehension. 

Have you thought of the Christian life in 
the manner of its sustenance? We know 
something of how the body is nourished; a large 
part of our life and labor is employed in endeav- 
oring to meet its needs. We know something of 
the mind's necessities; thousands of intellectual 
sources are available, and never more than now. 



THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE. 75 

But the new spirit life that comes from God 
would starve if merely fed from material or 
even intellectual sources. God has sent down 
from heaven prepared provisions for this new 
life, manna for the soul in the sincere milk of 
the word, and the strong meat of its doctrines. 

The wonder of the unregenerate is how the 
Christian can thrive on such nourishment, yet 
the Christian's meditations and his goodness 
of God are sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. 
Besides the Book there are secret ducts of pray- 
er through which the Christian receives fresh 
supplies of grace from heaven. 

Jesus has said "If any man shall drink of 
the water that I shall give him, it shall be in 
him a well of water springing up into ever- 
lasting life." The Christian, as his Master, has 
meat to eat the world knows not of. The Chris- 
tian life is a wonder also in the secret and super- 
natural motives that impel it. Yonder is a bal- 
loon sailing majestically in the air, but sailing 
in a course directly opposite to that of which the 
wind is blowing on the surface of the earth. We 
wonder until we come to understand that at that 
high altitude there is another current and in that 
the balloon is moving. 

Here is a mighty iceberg that towers above 
the surface of the ocean glittering in the sun 



76 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

and heading toward the south in the very hear: ;- 
the Gulf Stream that is sweeping toward the 
north. 

We wonder till we come to know that the 
iceberg has its base way down in the depths — 
that the Gulf Stream is only surface water: that 
this iceberg from the north is propelled by the 
mighty sweep of the Arctic current below that 
is moving it resistlessly toward the south. 

There are heights and depths in the Chris- 
tian life that the world can never understand. 
Festus said to Paul: '"Thou art beside thyself; 
much learning has made thee mad/' Why 
seems the great apostle mad? Let Paul reply: 
"We look not at the things that are seen and 
temporal, but at the things that are unseen and 
eternal." Oh, my friends if our eyes could but 
see the splendors of the Celestial world, if we 
could see the angels that compass as about we 
should cease to wonder that early Christians 
when confronted by persecution said with rejoic- 
ing hearts : "None of these things move us, neith- 
er count we our lives dear unto ourselves." 

The Christian life is also wonderful in the 
ease with which it may be attained. 

Most things that are worth having must be 
won by long, patient endeavor, but this the 
most precious of all things, may be had in a 



THE WONDER OF THE NEW LIFE. 77 

moment. In the twinkling of an eye man is 
saved forever. 

The new creation is a wonder in complete- 
ness of its salvation from sin. Man's sins may 
be as scarlet, yet they are made whiter than 
snow. 

Wonderful in the peace that it imparts, a 
peace that passeth all understanding. The joy 
that floods the Christian soul is unspeakable 
and full of glory. Wonderful in the strength 
it gives for duty, wonderful in the courage it 
bestows to meet danger, wonderful in the 
sweetness of its solace in life's darkest hours. 

I recently had a call from a Christian wife 
at the bedside of her dying husband. Her face 
beamed like an angel's as she said "The Lord 
giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be 
the name of the Lord." 

The dying husband with almost his last 
breath, his countenance placid in sweet con- 
tentment said "The Lord is my shepherd I 
shall not want. My precious Jesus; blessed be 
his name." 

Friends, could we have seen the wonders that 
opened to that soul when on the wings of 
immortality it swept through the gates of glory 
and entered into the joys of heaven we would 
have a keener appreciation of the new creation 
in Christ. 



78 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

If any man be in Christ he is a new creation 
with a new destiny. Lay hold of Christ and 
you shall know by blessed experience, that the half 
has never been told. 



THE GREATEST SENTENCE IN 
LITERATURE. 



THE GREATEST SENTENCE IN 
LITERATURE. 



God is love. 



DELilAE PrLPIT. 

April 30, 1905. 
Morning service. 



VII. 

THE GREATEST SENTENCE IN 
LITERATURE. 

The greatest sentence in literature is a sin- 
gle announcement of the beloved disciple. A 
short sentence. A breath can utter it, a sig- 
net ring contain it. It is the truth that shone 
brightest at the advent, and it will overspread 
the world in millennium lustre. It is a truth 
on which no man has mused too much, even 
though he has pondered it all his days. A 
truth to which no anthem can do justice, ex- 
cept that in which angels mingle, and in which 
the redeemed are inspired by seraphim. It is 
the most precious gem in gospel truth. Hun- 
dreds of volumes have been dedicated to its 
exposition. 

Hear it: "God is Love." This sentence of 
three words contains so much of truth, that the 
world has been pondering it for nineteen cen- 
turies but has not reached its depths. 

Every gospel message delivered to-day, every 
song of praise that breaks forth from Chris- 
tian hearts, and all the mission work of Chris- 
tendom revolves around this axis — "God is 
love." 

fi 8 1 



82 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

That sentence sums up the whole contents 
of the Bible. It is the subject of the first chapter 
of Genesis and of the last chapter of Revela- 
tion. 

The Bible is God's love story, the story of 
the love of a holy God fcr a sinful world. It 
began with a love scene in the Garden of Eden, 
it continued in the tragic love scene in the Gar- 
den of Gethsemene. It will end in a triumphant 
love scene in the Garden of Paradise Regained. 

When Mr. Moody organized a church in 
Chicago he was so anxious that everybody 
should know this truth, and was so afraid that 
some preacher might forget to tell it, that he 
had put on the gas globes above the pulpit, 
so that the first thing one would see when en- 
tering, the words : "God is love." 

One stormy night before time for the meet- 
ing, the doors stood ajar. A man, slightly in- 
toxicated stepped in thinking to Avarm himself, 
not knowing what kind of a place it was. When 
he saw the text blazing out in letters of fire, 
"God is love," he turned and left, muttering, 
"God is not love. If God is love He would love 
me. God does not love a wretch like me." 

But it kept burning in his soul, "God is 
love;" "God is love;" "God is love." After 
awhile he retraced his steps and took a seat in 



THE GREATEST SENTENCE. 83 

the corner. When Mr. Moody walked down the 
aisle after the meeting he found the man weep- 
ing. "What is the trouble," he asked. "What 
was in the sermon that touched you?" "I did 
not hear a word of your sermon." "Well what 
is the trouble?" "That text up there." Mr. 
Moody sat down, took his Bible, showed him 
the way of life, and he was saved. 

"God is love." This truth stands, full and clear, 
sublime, but if that be all, if we only know it 
as a great fact concerning the nature of God, 
then it is really nothing to us. But God's love 
has found expression in the most persuasive of 
ways, by a gift which involved an extreme 
sacrifice. A gift which so precisely meets our 
needs, that it carries His love right into our 
hearts. We realize love through manifestation 
and expression ; we can feel it in no other way. 

That God is love is revealed to us through the 
person of Christ. This was God's way of giving 
identity and form to his love, something tangi- 
ble on which we may fix our affections. 

As the rays that come from the Sun are not 
the Sun, even so the rays of love and pity, 
that come from God are not God, but a weak 
image and reflection of Him, yet from Him 
alone they come. If there is mercy in any 
heart it comes from the fountain of mercy, if 



84 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

there is light and love, it is from the source of 
light and love. 

In that great ocean of the divine love we 
live, floating in it like some sea flower which 
spreads its beauty and waves its tresses in the 
depth of mid ocean. The sound of its waters 
is ever in our ears ; and above, beneath, and 
around us its mighty currents run for ever- 
more. 

Love is the highest, purest, holiest motive 
from which we can act. Faith makes us strong 
by keeping before us the great truths and real- 
ities of the unseen world. Hope helps us on 
our way, by filling our souls with the long- 
ing expectation of the blessedness in store for 
us, but faith is cold and hope is selfish without 
love. Love is the going forth of the soul to- 
ward God and man, tender, glowing, generous, 
unselfish. 

Love will do all things. Love will bear all 
things. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." If 
we love God we shall fulfill our duty to God. 
If we love man we shall fulfill our duty to man. 
To love the Lord our God with all our hearts, 
and our neighbors as ourselves, is all we have 
to do. There would be no need of any other 
law if all obeyed perfectly the law of love. 

As love is the best motive for our actions, 



THE GREATEST SENTENCE. 85 

so love of God is the best sort of love. If we 
truly love God we are sure to love His crea- 
tures also. O let us love each other. It is the 
way in which God would have us show our 
love for Him. 

To separate ourselves from each other is to 
lose power. Half dead brands heaped close 
will kindle one another, and flame will spar- 
kle beneath the film of white ashes. Fling 
them apart and they go out; rake them together 
and they glow. Let us not be little feeble tapers 
stuck in separate sockets twinkling a strug- 
ling ray over some inch of space, but draw 
near our brethren and be workers together, 
that there may rise a glorious flame from our 
collective brightness which shall be a guide 
and a hospitable call to many a wandering and 
weary spirit. 

True Fatherly love carries with it brotherly 
love. John affirms that love is not genuine 
that is fixed only upon God and restrained from 
one's brother-man. "He that loveth not his 
brother knoweth not God." 

When our love to God and to our brother 
has grown into full strength it proves a splen- 
did power in our lives ; it casts out all fear. There 
is no fear in love. Love elevates us to meet 
all occasions. Love inspires the noblest and 
best in man. 



86 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

When we love God and fully realize God's 
love through Christ, our love naturally finds 
expression in self-sacrificing acts to our breth- 
ren. A perfect love to God will give us bold- 
ness by showing the mutually exclusive na- 
tures of love and fear. Love moves toward 
others in the spirit of self-sacrifice. Fear 
shrinks from others in the spirit of self-pres- 
ervation. In all relations perfect love excludes 
fear, and fear prevents love from being per- 
fect. 

'"Perfect love casteth out fear because fear 
hath torment." It worries us. causing fretting 
and anxiety, because it keeps our thoughts 
circling around self and self-interest. There 
is no fear in love because it takes us out of 
ourselves, and makes us spend ourselves in 
the service of others. Anxiety about others is 
altogether different from fear which concerns 
ourselves. If we live in this serene atmosphere 
of pure sympathy with God and man, Christ 
is in us and we in Him, because God is love 
itself. Sharing His nature, therefore we must 
be like Him : and the more completely we al- 
low this Divine love towards our Father and 
brothers to transform our whole being, the 
more we shall be like our Judge and the less 
cause to fear His judgment. 



THE GREATEST SENTENCE. 87 

Where our love is well grounded and set on 
a perfect being, its serenity is in proportion to its 
sincerity. 

There is a law of worship that is universal 
and involuntary and that is the law of resem- 
blance which the deity and devotee are cer- 
tain to bear one another. They who worship 
an idol are like unto the idol in the very begin- 
ning, for they fashion it after the model of 
something within themselves; and they grow 
more and more like it afterwards, by sharing 
and copying the qualities with which they 
fancy the false god to be endowed. 

No man is better than that to which he 
burns incense, but every man takes on more 
and more of the character of his divinity. How 
came love so rich in the breast of human par- 
ents? It came there through the being who 
made them in the image and likeness of God. 
Parental love is salvage from the wreck of the 
fall. 

There are other attributes of God, but this 
one alone expresses the very soul of His being; 
"God is love." Oh how richly this attribute is 
embodied in Jesus Christ, the Friend of little 
children, the Companion of sorrowful women, 
the Comforter of penitent outcasts, the Refuge 
of publicans, the hope of sinners, a haven of 



88 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

rest for the world of the ungodly. God is love 
— Christ is love. 

We want both "love" and "God." Call 
Christ "God" or call Christ "Love" as you 
need Him at the moment, for He is both. Be- 
ing both makes Him the Mediator. We are, 
first the inhabitants, with Christ for a dwell- 
ing, and then we are the house in which Christ 
makes His home. 

One of history's noblest records of love is 
given in the devotion of Pythias who offered 
to forfeit his life to save his friend; but God 
commended His love to us in that while we 
were yet sinners Christ died for us. W r e have 
not seen the greatest gift of all — the heart of 
God, the love of His heart, the heart of His 
love — and will He in very deed show us that? 
Yes, unveil the cross and see ! The cross was 
God's way of showing us His heart. The 
cross is infinite love laboring to reveal itself — 
agonizing to utter its fulness. Apart from that 
act a boundless ocean of love would have re- 
mained shut up and concealed in the heart of 
God ; but now it has found an ocean channel. 
Beyond this He cannot go. Once and forever 
the proof has been given in Jesus Christ that 
"God is love." 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 

"The field is the world." 



Delmar Pulpit. 

September 3. 1905. 

Morning service. 



VIII. 
AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 

The year 1905 will be noted in Baptist his- 
tory for two special events. These events 
"have created a Baptist world conscience." The 
vision of Baptists is enlarged. Their view now 
takes in the world. They must henceforth think in 
continents. 

It required centuries to climb to this moun- 
tain height. This world conception was not 
reached till many men had circled the earth 
and modern conditions had made all nations 
neighbors. The World Congress has brought 
nearer the Christ idea. Although Jesus never 
went beyond the narrow boundary lines of 
Palestine, yet He thought for the world, loved 
the world, died for the world. His last messages 
were : "The field is the world ;" "Go ye unto all 
the world." 

The first of these monumental events was 
the union of the Baptist forces of America 
last May in St. Louis. That meeting intensi- 
fied the fraternal spirit of American Baptists; 
it inspired enlarged endeavor. 

A world meeting of Baptists was urged by 



9i 



92 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Dr. Rippen of London more than a century 
ago, but the time had not come. When the 
hour for this great gathering was at hand, Dr. 
Prestridge of Louisville, Ky., gave voice to the 
sentiment of Baptists of the world to come to- 
gether in counsel and co-operate to more ef- 
fectively extend the reign of Christ. 

It was wise that this first meeting should 
be in London, earth's largest city, a pulsating 
center whose heart-throb is felt on all parts of 
the globe. 

It was an opportune time for the meeting. 
A time when religious thought is more in- 
tense on the British Isles than any other part 
of the world. A time when the struggle for 
religious freedom is more marked than ever 
before in the history of Europe. A time for 
distinctive Baptist principles, individual free- 
dom and separation of church and state to 
stand boldly out. A time for Baptists to show 
the strength of united millions. An opportune 
time to herald their principles and proclaim in 
volume of voice that would command the re- 
spect of kings and all who have to do with hu- 
man governments, "that the last shackle which 
binds the free spirit of man must be broken.'* 

It is conceded by observers of human prog- 
ress that Baptists have ever been the leading 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 93 

champions of religious liberty. Mason, in his 
life of Milton, speaking of the church near 
New Gate, established in 1612, says: "This 
obscure congregation seems to have been the 
depository of all England, for the absolute 
principle of liberty of conscience expressed 
in the Amsterdam confession, as distinct from 
the more stinted principle advocated by the 
general body of Independents. It was from 
this little dingy meeting house in old London, 
that there flashed out first in England the ab- 
solute doctrine of religious liberty." 

At that period their declaration of absolute 
religious freedom, as an essential right of the 
human soul, was regarded as rank heresy by 
the governing powers, but in the Baptist 
World Congress in this same city of London, 
the four thousand representatives of twenty 
million adherents, not only gave an object les- 
son of the power of this fundamental truth, 
but of their strength, their culture, their mis- 
sionary activities covering the earth. 

This congress was not only an object lesson 
to the world, but here they met from every 
land and tongue, and in personal hand-clasp 
realized their strength and experienced the 
power of the spiritual bonds that bind togeth- 
er the Baptist brotherhood of the world. 



94 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

The initiatory meetings were held in twelve 
churches in different parts of London, Monday 
evening, July 10. At the one held in Regent 
Park I represented America. I never spoke 
to a more responsive audience except in the 
Baptist Convention of Wales. 

On Tuesday the 11th, the congress formally 
opened in Exeter Hall. It has a seating capac- 
ity of three thousand. This hall is made dear 
to Baptists by memories associated with Spur- 
geon. Here he delivered his burning mes- 
sages during the construction of the Metropol- 
itan Tabernacle. 

No tongue or pen can describe this first 
meeting of Baptists from all parts of the world. 
Every Baptist community was represented ex- 
cept Java and Palestine. The hall was packed, 
every face beaming with love, every heart 
beating with expectancy, every soul aglow 
with enthusiasm. 

The walls were decorated with flags of all 
nations and maps showing the number and lo- 
cation of Baptists in different parts of the 
world. But it was the great panorama of men 
and women representing twenty million Bap- 
tists, that riveted the attention, roused the im- 
agination, that thrilled us with love for each 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 95 

other and renewed consecration to Christ. 
After the opening hymn: 

"From distant climes, from every land, 
Behold us Lord before Thee stand," 

Rev. Owens prayed: "Lord lift thou the 
light of thy countenance upon this congress." 
There was fervent response from thousands. 
One could but feel, "surely this is like unto pen- 
tecost." Some wept, some smiled, others groan- 
ed. It was an intense moment. 

Rjev. J. H. Shakespeare, secretary of the con- 
gress, one of the first in England to respond to the 
suggestion of a world meeting of Baptists, and 
one of the most effective agencies in making 
the vision a reality, made a brief statement. 
Said he : "This is a dream that has come true ; 
it is an achievement of faith which must be 
added to the 11th chapter of Hebrews. We rep- 
resent, including our Sunday schools and those 
who attend our services and are at heart Bap- 
tists, at least twenty million adherents. We 
are a vast community and are ready to keep 
the great ordinances of Christ till he come." 

The chairman, Judge Willis, president of the 
Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 
a leading jurist of England, a man of broad 
grasp and practical force, and above these a 



96 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

lofty spirit loyal to Christ, welcomed the mes- 
sengers. Among many good things he said: 
"This is the greatest gathering of baptized be- 
lievers since pentecost. We are not assembled 
for scenic display, nor by numbers to claim 
momentary triumph over any other Christian 
community, but for high moral purposes, and 
chiefly to recognize the grace of God exhibited 
in each other." 

Said he : "Having recently visited many of 
the churches in England, I noticed how the 
members enjoyed spiritual life; I was so im- 
pressed at the close of these visits, I could but 
exclaim, O Savior, thy words are true. Thou 
didst come to give spiritual life, and thou hast 
given it more abundantly. Be assured breth- 
ren the spiritual life which Christ awakens and 
sustains is best seen in fellowship with other 
minds and hearts. Such a proof of Christ's 
power as I now see and experience I never 
expected to behold." 

He urged union in work with other followers 
of Christ, even though external union was im- 
possible. Said he : "We cannot, we must not 
compromise any vital truth. We must main- 
tain allegiance to Christ at all cost. We believe 
the only baptism approved by Christ and 
known to his apostles was baptism by immer- 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 97 

sion, the prerequisites to which were personal 
faith and repentance." 

Closing he announced : "All hail the power 
of Jesus' name." I wish every one of you could 
have experienced the feeling and heard the vol- 
ume of the voice of thousands that poured forth 
to the tune of Diadem. 

The secretary began the roll call. The first 
to answer was Mr. Copek of Austria-Hungary. 
In broken English he said: "We have five 
churches with five hundred members, but there 
are twenty-five million Slavonians in Austria 
and Hungary, and who will deny that they need 
the gospel just as much as the Chinese and 
Japanese." He concluded with a song in his 
native tongue. 

Pastor Broholm responding for Denmark: 
"As a Dane we can boast that England got her 
noble Queen from Denmark; as a Danish Bap- 
tist I am proud to say, we have the same Lord, 
the same faith, and the same baptism, as this 
great gathering of witnesses." 

Pastor Jansen for Finland said: "It is a 
great pleasure to be here and see so many who 
had the same faith that they had in Finland 
where they had suffered many persecutions, 
but were determined to go forward at what- 
T 



98 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

ever cost. I feel sure there are brighter days 
in store for us." 

H. Cadet, the delegate from France, made 
a bright, happy speech, in which he said : "Yes- 
terday I was so happy I was ready to kiss ev- 
ery man of you that I met. Oh, if you were 
French how I would embrace you !'' He then 
embraced and kissed Judge Willis greatly to 
the amusement of the congress. 

Pastor Hermann was the voice from Ger- 
many : '''We are glad to be here and see and 
hear the wonderful things the Lord has done 
through Baptists throughout the world. I look 
into the future with great confidence, assured 
the work will go on with increased success.'' 

Signor Pachetto representing fourteen hun- 
dred believers, spoke for Italy, saying: "We 
have fifty-three mission stations, each having 
an organized church and many out-stations. We 
have a union, a publication department issu- 
ing a journal, a theological training school for 
ministers. The spiritual blessings that have 
come to our people were through the interest 
of American Baptists." 

There were twenty-six responses to the roll 
call: Austria, Hungary. Denmark, Finland, 
France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 99 

Russia, Sweden, China, India, Japan, Congo, 
South Africa, National Baptist Convention, 
Southern Baptist Convention, Northern Bap- 
tists, Lott-Cary Convention, Canada, Mexico, 
West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil 
and Great Britain. 

The responses to the roll call were in many- 
cases memorable. After the three minute 
speech, the speaker and his associate delegates 
rose and sang their national song or a charac- 
teristic hymn. In almost every case the effect 
was impressive and thrilling. 

From Russia the speaker was Gospoden 
Pavloff, who told the story of his persecutions 
and banishments for preaching the gospel. 
Said he : "My two banishments covered a pe- 
riod of eight years. If a man did not worship 
according to the rites of the state church it 
was as if he had murdered a man." "But," 
said he, "we have more freedom now since 
last April, yet the laws against us are not fully 
abolished." The incidents he gave of persecu- 
tions and loyalty to Christ were like unto the 
days of the apostles. 

The words of Dr. Broady, representing Swe- 
den, were inspiring. The story of the cross 
was learned by an immigrant while in America 
about the middle of the last century. He be- 



ioo THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

came a Baptist and returned to carry the story 
to his friends in his native land. It has been 
largely through his and Dr. Broady's efforts 
that Baptists of Sweden now number over for- 
ty thousand. Said Dr. Broady: "It is an in- 
spiration to be here, and I praise God that 
through his Son he has raised up so many wit- 
nesses." 

Dr. Timothy Richards, representing China, 
received an ovation. Said he: "China is the 
eldest sister of the nations of the world; she 
was a thousand years old when Homer began 
to sing. She has preserved her provinces with- 
out war, yet when the crisis came and she was 
about to be despoiled, it was the spirit of Christ 
in the breast of that American statesman, John 
Hay, that saved her from dismemberment, and 
when she fully learns and realizes this truth 
it will be a great factor in turning that ancient 
nation to receive the King of kings." 

Rev. Thompson answered for twenty-five 
hundred Baptists in Japan who stand loyally 
for religious freedom. He believed Japan would 
presently become Christian. 

Dr. Curtis Laws, responding for the South- 
ern Baptist Convention, expressed delight at 
the warm and hospitable reception they had 
experienced, but said he : "We have come for 



AN EPOCH IN BAPTIST HISTORY. 101 

higher things and are realizing them in full 
measure." 

Dr. Crandall in response for the Baptists of 
the North gave expression to a number of hap- 
py thoughts. Closing he asked the congress 
to join in singing "My Country Tis of Thee." 

Dr. Clifford, the great English apostle of 
religious liberty, answered to the call of Great 
Britain. Said he: "I should like to speak of 
the things that have greatly impressed my 
mind while listening to the responses to the 
roll call. First, was the place that Christ oc- 
cupied in Baptist thought and speech. Second, 
the love that was so evident for one another. 
It was apparent that there is one common 
heart-throb, the love of Christ. Third, the ab- 
solute fidelity to conviction ; there is no note 
of surrender. 

"The sufferings of Russia and some other 
countries reminded us of the seventeenth centu- 
ry, and they showed the same pluck and devo- 
tion to Christ. There is the same note of soul-lib- 
erty that Roger Williams sounded when he 
founded Rhode Island." 

In tones that forced conviction he said, "Soul 
liberty leads to political liberty; the Russians 
will have it yet; it is the indefeasible right of 



102 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

In closing he summed up what was evident 
from the responses to the roll call. "First, Bap- 
tist faith places Jesus Christ in absolute and 
unapproachable supremacy. Second, Bap- 
tists love each other with a great love. Third, 
they are invincibly faithful to conviction; im- 
prisonment and banishment will not shake 
them. Fourth, soul-liberty they will have, and 
this inevitably leads to political liberty, which 
they will achieve for all the world. Thus peace 
on earth is the great goal of their corporate 
life." 

This brought to a close the most memorable 
meeting in the history of Baptists — spectacu- 
lar, inspiring, unprecedented — an epoch in Bap- 
tist history. 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN, 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. 

"Be thou faithful and I will give thee a crown." 



Baccalaureate sermon. 
Stephens College. 
Columbia, Mo. 
May 28, 1905. 



IX. 
THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. 

As I look into the faces of a graduating class 
of Stephens College joyous memories are 
awakened, memories of happy days, of luscious 
days when all the world was music, poetry and 
pretty girls. Appreciative memories of that 
prince of gentlemen, Pres. R. P. Rider, who did 
not force me to hide behind the bushes nor 
scale the walls and climb in at the window 
when I wanted to see one of the seniors, but 
invited me into the parlor brought the girl in 
and left the room. 

As I look into the bright eyes and winsome 
faces before me this evening, and had I not 
been so fortunate in those days I might feel 
a tinge of regret that my lot was not cast twen- 
ty-five years later. I am sure I would have 
made trouble for some of these young men that 
are now looking so wistfully this way. They 
pretend to be looking at the speaker, but I 
know, from experience, that where the heart 
is there will the eyes be also. 

Those who appreciate the elements that 
make for happiness and prosperity are more in- 

105 



106 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

terested in a graduating class of young women 
than of young men. 

Men have fought battles, built rail-roads, 
constructed steamships, spanned rivers, tun- 
neled mountains. Men have developed the 
sciences, stripped the earth of its mysteries, 
and harnessed its forces to service. Men have 
penetrated the Universe, they have followed 
the planets in their flight through the labyrinth 
of space. Men have given to the world its mas- 
terpieces in painting, in sculpture, in architec- 
ture. 

Women have given to the world monuments 
of far greater value: the statues they have 
chiseled throb with life, and live to uplift hu- 
manity when those of bronze and marble are 
dissolved into dust. The most important work in 
this world has to do with the heart. It is on this 
canvas woman is painting. Her masterpieces are 
immortal men and women. 

Young ladies of the graduating class of Ste- 
phens College, you will receive your diplomas 
next Wednesday in the presence and with the 
blessing of Dr. Shailer Mathews. A diploma 
from Stephens is more than a testimonial of 
accomplishment, it is an expression of conn- 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. io7 

dent expectancy, a promise and prophecy of 
a bright future. 

The philanthropic spirit and liberality which 
provided the beautiful college grounds, build- 
ings and equipments, and surrounded you 
with the many advantages here enjoyed; the 
pangs of separation experienced by your par- 
ents and their sacrifice to give you culture ; 
this large gathering here assembled, all bear 
witness to the interest centering in you, and the 
part you are to play in the drama of life. 

This is an epochal event for you, and should 
be a time of aspiration, of dream, of vision. 

Many of you saw in the Varied Industries 
building at the World's Fair the display of the 
crowns of the world's empires. Each king- 
dom seems to have vied with all the others in 
placing in its crown the richest jewels and rar- 
est gems. 

I wish to place before you a vision of a 
crown, not a crown of gold and precious stones 
that weighs heavily on the brow and is attend- 
ed with heavier cares, but one that brings per- 
ennial joy, one that each of you may wear with 
becoming grace and beauty. 

The upreach for this crown is my theme. 
Scripture, "Be thou faithful and I will give 
thee a crown." 



io8 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Human life in all its nobler activities is an 
upreach for a crown. Men and women by the 
royalty of their natures are kingdom seekers 
and they should not rest till they find their 
kingdom and wear their crown. 

The crowns which beckon young men and 
women are as numerous as their realms of ex- 
perience and faculties of achievement.' The 
crowns which beckon men are worthy of high 
endeavor. But those that beckon women are 
cast in a finer mold and are decked with rarer 
jewels. 

The kingdom of wealth beckons man to 
come and wear its crown and he who wins fin- 
ancial supremacy may wield a mighty power 
for good. 

Another kingdom which beckons man is 
that of industrial sovereignty. This crown 
confers a power above the hereditary sway of 
kings. Captains of industry who marshal ar- 
mies of workmen against the world's idleness 
and want are of royal blood. The man who 
puts a shovel into another's hand is a better 
friend than the one who puts a dollar into his 
pocket. There is more religion in putting men 
to work than in giving them bread. 

The empire of discovery : who can estimate 
the blessings opened to the race by men who 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. 109 

through scientific upreach placed this diadem 
on their brow. Think of Newton, Watt, Edi- 
son. 

The kingdom of political ascendency is 
also alluring men. The desire to wear this 
crown when prompted by patriotism is a no- 
ble ambition. In it sparkle gems of oratory 
and statesmanship when on the brow of such 
men as Cicero, Burke, Webster, Clay, Rollins. 

The kingdom of philanthropy: what a no- 
ble crown to grace the brow ! and I am proud 
to say that dear old Boone has many names 
that wear this crown: Jewell, Bass, Hickman, 
Harris, Hardin, Stephens, Conley, Parker, Sap- 
pington, Jones. These names will live in 
the hearts of generations to come, while those 
who cling to their wealth are long forgotten. 

"That man may last, but never lives 
Who much receives and nothing gives ; 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank 
Creation's blot, creation's blank, 

But he who marks from day to day 
By generous acts, his path-way 
Treads the path his Savior trod 
The path to glory and to God." 



no THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

The kingdom of art is an enchanting one. 
To seek to give the world uplifting thoughts, 
on canvas, in marble, or in music, thrills the 
heart and expands the soul. 

Think of the gem in Raphael's crown, the 
"Sistine Madonna" or that pearl in the crown 
of Hunt "The Light of the World" or that 
star in Ruben's crown "The Descent from the 
Cross" or the sparkling jewel in Millet's crown 
"The Angelus" — what a marvelous portrayal 
of honest toil, wedded love, reverent worship, 
— or that poem in chiseled marble, Michael An- 
gelo's "Moses." 

Music, with its melodies that charm, sym- 
phonies that soothe, harmonies that inspire, is 
ever calling the gifted to come and win its 
ciown, saying: I can voice joy or grief. Take my 
wondrous wings and soar to new heights of 
felicity or depths of feeling. I can give added 
beauty and power to the Psalms and hymns 
of David, of Watts, of Fannie Crosby, of How- 
ard Payne, of Samuel Smith. Laurels in this 
noble art are not only worn by Bach, Bee- 
thoven, Handel and Mozart, but by those who 
interpret them, Patti with voice divine and 
Paderewski with touch sublime and I am sure 
by many of this audience. 

The kingdom of literature suggests a splen- 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. 1 1 1 

did crown, one that high souls both men and 
women have ever coveted. It is better to wear 
the diadem of intellectual dignity than be heir 
to an earldom. 

Scientists and inventors are benefactors, 
but men and women of expression who reveal 
truth, tipped and winged with the fire of a 
great personality, give treasures more precious. 
From all times, and all lands, these riches are 
in our hands. We may choose from these treas- 
ures vast, left us by the storied past, the 
crowns we wish to wear. 

With David's crown we may lie down in 
pastures green, and walk by waters still. Sol- 
omon's crown mirrors wisdom and folly. 

We may wear the crowns of Homer, of Soc- 
rates, Gautama, Confucius, Horace, Virgil, 
then place on our brow the crown of Whittier 
and find all the gems that deck those crowns are 
in the Book our mother read. 

With the crown of the myriad-minded 
Shakespeare we may penetrate the secrets of 
the heart when swayed by the passions of jeal- 
ousy, envy, hatred, revenge, or thrilled by the 
ecstacy of love. 

When on our brow rests the crown of Han- 
nah Moore we cannot speak an ungenerous 
word or think a low thought. With sweet 



ii2 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Mrs. Browning we keep our soul's large win- 
dow pure from wrong, and we know that only 
the good discern the good. Wearing the 
crown of Pope we act well our part. With 
Longfellow's Psalm of Life, we may be heroes 
in the strife. Cowper's diadem will open to us 
the blessings of friendship and love and un- 
fold the joys of religion. 

Communing with Edward Everett Hale 
we open the door of our heart to things that 
abide, holy thoughts that lift our souls like 
stars at eventide, fadeless flowers that bloom 
in realms of song and art. With Kingsley we 
will do noble things and so make life one grand 
sweet song. 

With Milton we may view the glories of 
Paradise. With Goethe learn that God has 
given us a nature as a kingdom grand, with 
power to feel and enjoy it. Schiller tells us 
that to woman is given roses with which to 
strew the path to heaven. 

With the crown of Gray, we can drop a tear 
of sympathy and gain from heaven a friend. 
Holland will help us build the ladder on which 
we rise from the lowly earth to the vaulted skies. 
With Bryant we learn to so live that when our 
summons comes, we go not like a galley slave 
scourged to his dungeon. 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. .113 

Wearing Bunyan's laurel we may fight the 
battles of Pilgrim's Progress and with him feel 
grateful to his humble wife, the influence of 
whose gentle spirit led him from a drunken 
tinker, to the glories of a life in Christ. 

Wagner would have us love virtue so beauti- 
fully portrayed by Parsifal, virtue covering 
him with a coat of mail, against which the 
darts of sin cannot prevail. 

With Burns in the Cotter's home, we can 
share pure hopes, join in songs of praise, and 
dream of youth, and truth, and love. With 
Poe, listen to the melody of wedding bells, and 
picture the happiness their harmony foretells. 
With Kipling, "God be with us yet, lest we for- 
get." 

But there is a kingdom that gleams above 
the literary — the kingdom of home. Here wo- 
man wears the crown and love is law. 'Tis 
here she paints living pictures on human hearts. 
Great men whose virtues shine to bless man- 
kind have recognized the woman from whose 
fidelity and devotion has sprung the inspira- 
tion that enabled them to win the crowns that 
beckoned them. 

A diadem has often been worn by a man 
whose wife placed it upon his brow. The 
3 



ii 4 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

source of many a man's achievements may be 
traced to the influence and culture of the lit- 
tle woman to whom he plighted his troth in 
earlj- manhood. 

William E. Gladstone, Premier of England 
and Premier of men, through the devotion of 
his wife, Katherine, made his ideal life double 
because the two made a double life one. 

The crown that best becomes the brow of 
woman, is loyal, loving wifehood. In God's 
plan of creation he wove a wreath for woman 
more glorious than can be attained by man. 
When God crowned woman Queen of the 
home He placed in her diadem jewels more 
rare than she can find in any other earthly 
kingdom. 

As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so there is a kingdom transcendently above 
all those we have mentioned. 

This kingdom offers a crown more resplen- 
dent and enduring than all others. Tis the 
crown of life which the King of Glory gives to 
the faithful. "Be thou faithful and I will give 
thee the crown of life/' Without this crown 
all others are unsatisfying. Byron's literary 
crown sparkled with many gems but he did not 
have the crown of life. At thirty and six in- 
stead of joy and gladness — listen to his wail: 



THE UPREACH FOR A CROWN. 1 1 5 

"My days are in the sere and yellow leaf 
The flowers and fruits of love are 
gone, 

The worm, the canker and the grief 
Are mine alone." 

Without the crown of life there can be no 
abiding joy or satisfying beauty in the life. It 
is the only crown that gives beauty for ashes, 
joy for mourning, praise for heaviness. 

One may win crowns in all other kingdoms 
yet miss the one that best becomes the brow, 
the crown which Jesus promises for faithful- 
ness in his kingdom. 

The crown referred to in our text is a symbol 
of attainment and reward for service in the 
Kingdom of God. There is a vast difference be- 
tween eternal life and the crown of life. Eter- 
nal life is given when one is born into the 
Kingdom, the crown of life is in addition a re- 
ward for faithful service in that Kingdom. "I 
know thy works — Be thou faithful and I will 
give thee the crown of life." "He that believ- 
eth on the Son hath eternal life." He that la- 
bors for the Son hath the crown of life. 

Jesus yearns to crown you with all the graces 
and glories of Heaven, but His law of cor- 
onation is the law of faithfulness. 



n6 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Faithfulness beautifies the face, it perfects 
the character, it transforms the life, it illumines 
the soul causing it to bloom with the laurel of 
love and the diadem of service. 

Does not the splendor of this crown stir you 
to faithful service in the Kingdom of God? It 
is the crown transcendent, the crown immor- 
tal, the crown of glory that fadeth not away. 

This crown is decked with the ruby of Christ's 
atoning blood, the diamond of His perfect charac- 
ter, the emerald of His boundless love, the pearl 
of His saving grace. 

The price of this crown — "Be thou faithful." 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 

"Your young men shall see visions." 



Baccalaureate sermon. 

Blebs Military Academy. 

Macon, Mo. 

June 4, 1905. 

Son J. Lawrence B., member of graduating class. 



X. 
VISIONS AND PLANS. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Young men of Blees 
Military Academy : On last Sabbath I stood 
before a graduating class somewhat different 
from this. They wore no swallow tail coats, 
no shining brass buttons, no stripes on their 
sleeves, no epaulets on their shoulders. 

Their hair was not pasted down so sleek 
that a passing mosquito would be liable to 
slip and break his neck if he chanced to alight. 
I saw no sign of training for a future mustache. 

No, that class wore white dresses, and rosy 
cheeks and looked as tempting as peaches and 
cream. I wish you boys had been there. You 
might have had an experience similar to the 
one I had twenty-five years ago when I went 
to a commencement at this same college. I 
wore my Sunday best, a standing collar so 
high I could just peep over it, patent leather 
shoes number five, they should have been num- 
ber ten. I had squandered my last dollar on per- 
fume and hair oil — that was before the gray mat- 
ter had pushed out my hair — I hadn't a cent left 
to buy flowers for the girls. I was swept off 



119 



120 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

my feet by the charms of the valedictorian. 
So was another fellow. He was large, I was 
small, he was old, I was young, he was rich, I 
was poor, but Togo never planned and fought 
more vigorously to win than did I, nor was he 
more victorious. I did not capture the w r hole 
fleet but captured the Admiral without a 
wound. 

Young men, the completion of your course 
here marks for you an epochal event. Your 
graduation from Blees implies that you have 
reached an elevation, a plane, where you pause 
but an instant in the march of life, which is 
constantly graduating into new^ fields. You 
will always be coming to commencement days, 
each of which gives you a broader view, an 
increasing capacity for achievement. 

Commencement days should be days of 
visions and planning to realize them. My sub- 
ject: "Visions and Plans." Text, "Your 
young men shall see visions." 

Interest centering in young men has ever 
been characteristic of thoughtful minds. It 
was emphasized by Plato when he told the 
Assembly of Athens they must educate their 
young men or the Republic would perish. It 
was emphasized by Harvard, Yale, Brown, 
Cornell and other philanthropists who gave 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 121 

of their wealth to found institutions of learn- 
ing for young men. This splendid Academy 
is a monument expressing the interest of Col. 
Blees in young men. 

It was hope centering in young men that 
led the founders of our government to make 
liberal provisions for their education. Those 
who love our country and yearn for its perpe- 
tuity are looking to you, young men, for its 
preservation and continued advance to greater 
things. The sacrifice of parents that your minds 
may be trained to use their marvelous capacities 
in successful endeavor, testifies their love and 
interest in you. 

There never has been, there could never have 
been a period in the life of the world so full of 
potent possibilities for young men as that of 
to-day. You are citizens of the grandest coun- 
try, the noblest government that has existed 
since Adam was driven from the garden of 
Eden. 

You have the storied urn of the past, with 
its treasures of thought, experience and 
achievement. Every morning you have the 
history of the world of yesterday, its pulsating 
mental beat and progress in every field. 

The pedestal on which you stand was built 
by men of visions and plans and the world 



122 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

is looking to young men for larger visions and 
broader plans. 

The day is but dawning. You will see greater 
changes and advances in science, commerce 
and religion than have been hinted by the 
prophetic ken of our fathers. There is an ever 
increasing demand for better work, higher 
skill, with greater results; and rich rewards 
await the man who can advance present 
thought and methods. 

There is no: a tool or machine but needs im- 
provement. There is not a flower or fruit but 
can be brought to higher perfection. Burbank 
is transforming weeds to wholesome vegeta- 
bles and homely buds to lovely flowers. Our 
government recently gave him a hundred 
thousand dollars to extend the scope of his 
vision. 

Animals must be brought to higher beauty 
and usefulness. Ever}- mineral and vegetable 
must be made to serve man. Wireless tele- 
phones must be made to communicate, rail- 
roads to run from pole to pole. 

The sun must furnish all mechanical power 
and the bottom of the sea made a playground. 
The composition of the stars and the planets 
is to be analyzed and their inhabitants are to 
be communicated with. This vision inspired 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 123 

the couplet in the New York Mail of yester- 
day, 

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star 
Now I know what you are." . . . 
"Where in the thunder is your press agent." 

To accomplish these things men with visions 
and plans are needed, strong men, men with 
purpose, men with pluck, men with power. 

The avenues to best success are being clear- 
ed and made wider, so that thousands may now 
achieve greatness where only hundreds could 
win in the last generation. The gates to wis- 
dom, to wealth, to happiness, to religion, now 
open so easily, they turn at the touch of the 
manly man. 

Young man be a visionist, dream of a place 
in the world's progress and plan to fill it ! 

Columbus had a vision of a land across the 
sea. With perseverance and dauntless courage 
he opened a new world. The Pilgrims had a 
vision of a place where they could worship God 
according to the dictates of conscience. Break- 
ing the ties of association, they faced the per- 
ils of the deep, and hardships of the wilderness, 
planting their banner on Plymouth Rock. 

Watt, looking at the lid of his mother's tea 



i2 4 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

kettle as it was raised by an invisible power, 
had a vision of a steam engine. This fired his 
imagination and developed a mechanical skill 
that resulted in harnessing the mighty power 
which now turns the wheels of the world. 

Fulton had a vision of a boat propelled by 
steam,, moving on river and sea, plowing its 
way against currents of wind and wa- 
ter. Planning and perfecting his dream, we 
have the fruits of all lands on our table and 
travel the ocean with the comforts of home. 

Stephenson, working in a coal mine for a 
shilling a day, had a vision of the locomotive. 
He planned and made his dream a reality. As a 
result we have the rail-road. 

Howe, looking at his delicate wife as she 
plied the needle making garments for his chil- 
dren, had a vision of the sewing machine. 
Mothers may now spend their mornings at the 
golf links and their evenings at the woman's 
club. 

McCormick had a vision of a reaper; the 
farmer now rides under an umbrella while do- 
ing his work in the harvest field while he furn- 
ishes the world with bread, sports a carriage 
or automobile and is no longer the man with 
the hoe. 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 125 

Morse had a vision of an instrument for the 
quick transmission of thought. We now fol- 
low armies in their march to battle on land and 
on sea, listen to the statesman in his flights 
of oratory regardless of where he speaks, to 
our President when he talks to women's clubs 
about race suicide, or the former President 
when he tells them they should be at home 
darning husband's socks and tending the chil- 
dren. 

Bell had a vision of the telephone. We sit 
in our homes and talk to our friends next door 
or in New York and cannot injure our health 
by hasty eating as our friends at a distance 
insist on talking during the dinner hour. 

Edison selling papers on a train in Michigan 
had a vision of the possibilities of electricity. 
As a result of his dreams, when earth is wrap- 
ped in the mantle of night, our homes, business 
houses and streets are illumined with a bril- 
liancy that rivals the noonday sun. We hire 
a carriage for a nickel ; the city council has a 
traffic in franchises; and lawyers with a pas- 
sion for civic righteousness have subjects for 
prosecution. 

Hoe had a vision of the rotary printing press. 
Fifty thousand newspapers are printed in an 
hour. Every morning we are awakened by the 



126 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

cry: "Papers" — "Morning papers." We learn 
when and where it will rain, the proper cloth- 
ing to wear, what to eat for breakfast, lunch 
and dinner, who and where they played at ten- 
nis, golf, basket, foot and base ball, the horse 
that won the race, where the Stork called, if 
he brought a boy or a girl, the price of stocks 
and grain, and what is going on in the realm 
of religion. 

Palissy had a vision of white enamel to cov- 
er the pottery he was making. The dream 
kept alive for sixteen years his determination 
to produce it. He had nothing left but his fur- 
nace, his home, the fence around it and his furn- 
iture. Not a billet of wood could he procure for 
love or the promise of pay. The pailings were 
ripped from the fence and thrown in to keep 
the furnace going, yet the enamel had not melt- 
ed. There was a crashing in the house; the 
children were in dismay ; the wife with friends 
who had come to console her were loud in re- 
proaches. Palissy was breaking up the tables 
and chairs, carrying them body and legs to the 
all consuming fire. Still the enamel did not melt. 
There was more crashing and hammering in 
the house, the visionist was tearing up the 
floor to use the planks for firewood. Frantic 
with despair, the wife rushes off to raise the 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 12? 

town against him. She was starved by his per- 
tinacity, he was fed by his vision. While she 
was gone the sacrifice of sixteen years flowed 
in the clear beautiful coating that became the 
rage of kings and connoisseurs and adds to 
the beauty and cleanliness of the homes of the 
world. 

Thirty-three years ago, a young man came 
to St. Louis with a few thousand dollars and a 
vision of a great shoe business. He had hab- 
its of industry and thrift, and an integrity that 
would not compromise with falsehood or de- 
ceit. He is now the head of the largest shoe 
business in the world. His vision went beyond 
a large business and great fortune to the field 
of philanthropy where he is using much of his 
wealth for the good of man and the glory of 
God. 

When a practical man says he can achieve 
without a vision, he does not understand him- 
self. There is some vision stimulus in every 
kind of work, none the less definite because the 
worker appears unconscious of it. 

The farmer in his planting is moved by the 
vision of golden grain. The vision of bread 
for his family, comforts for the home, of in- 
dependence and enlargement impels the sturdy 



128 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR 

shove of the carpenter's plane and the vigor- 
ous stroke of the blacksmith's hammer. 

Poets are not the only ones who see visions. 
James Howard Payne had a vision of a home 
which found expression in that exquisite song 
"Home, Sw^eet Home." The homes that dot 
our land are all the creation of visions. 

Garfield when a lad walked the tow path of 
a canal boat driving a mule for six dollars a 
month, all of which he sent to his needy moth- 
er. When a youth he was asked w T hat he pro- 
posed to make of himself. Said he. "First of 
all I must make myself a man. If I do not suc- 
ceed in that I can succeed in nothing." His 
vision was that of a noble character. That 
dream was the first step to the White House. 

"To succeed in any plan the chiefest thing 
is to be a man." 

"Open thy bosom, set thy wishes wide, 
And let in manhood — let in happiness; 

Admit the boundless theatre of thought 
From nothing up to God." 

Character is the greatest power in the world : 
it reveals man at his best. It is men of high 
principle and sterling honesty who command 
the homage of mankind. Burns's father gave 
his boy good advice, 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 129 

"He bade me act a manly part, though I had 

ne'er a farthing, 
For without an honest manly heart, no man 

is worth regarding." 

In the affairs of life it is not intellect that 
tells so much as character, not brains so much 
as heart. Wisdom and goodness are always 
linked together, for wisdom makes a man good 
and goodness makes a man wise. 

An ideal vision produces an ideal man. In 
every field of endeavor there are obstacles to over- 
come, mountains to climb, rivers to cross. Our 
vision must be rooted in purpose, in plan, in order 
to realization. Character is being, not seeming, 
doing, not dreaming. 

Young men, keep before you the vision of a 
manly heart, a noble character. Without 
these, gold has no value, birth no distinction, 
station no dignity, beauty no charm, age no 
reverence. 

Character is influence, character is capital, 
character is power. It wins friends, secures hap- 
piness, creates wealth and opens the way to 
honor and distinction. 

Young man, I would place before you a vis- 
ion of your own future. You are to be so gen- 
tle and the elements so mixed in you that all 
nature will stand up and say to the world, there 
is a man. 



130 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

You are to stand on the solid rock of truth, 
which assures confidence in you, as no confi- 
dence can exist where truth is wanting. You 
are to be pure in thought and deed, as influ- 
ences that make for manliness will not dwell 
with impure souls, nor keep company with 
low motives, and lecherous thoughts. 

You are to possess the grace of friendship 
and scatter sunshine in the pathway of others, 
to delight in truth and beauty, to "gather up 
sunbeams lying about your path, keep the 
wheat and roses, casting out the thorns and 
chaff." 

In choosing a vocation follow the bent of 
your mind, for you will succeed best in the bus- 
iness for which you have an aptitude, that 
which is congenial. Your habits of industry 
and thrift will be rewarded with the comforts 
that merit commands. 

Your wife will be adorned with the pearl of a 
loving heart, the gems of Christian graces. Your 
home will radiate with love and gladness, as an 
Eden fragrant with sunshine and flowers, the 
place where "two souls with but a single thought, 
two hearts that beat as one" travel life's journey 
together ennobling every being you touch. 

Your comrades of school days will be uplift- 
ed by the strength of your personality and 



VISIONS AND PLANS. 131 

manhood, your business friends made better 
and wiser by association with you. Through 
your public spirit the state and nation are to 
be elevated and citizenship exalted. 

You are to be vitally connected with relig- 
ion, with the church of the living God, and be 
potential in extending the reign of Christ in 
human hearts. 

Your life is to reach beyond home, and bus- 
iness, and friends and earth and take hold of 
eternity. It is to be touched by the perfect 
One, the Redeemer, the man of Galilee. Trans- 
formed into his likeness you are to share his 
power and glory and reign with Him amid the 
splendors of Heaven throughout eternity. 

To realize this vision, you have resources 
far greater than Togo who destroyed the pow- 
erful Russian fleet in the great naval battle of 
the Sea of Japan. You have Heaven's army at 
your command and Heaven's help at your right 
hand. 



THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHEBS, 



'•THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS. 

"His name shall be above all other names." 



Baccalaureate sermon. 

LaGrange Colli: i 

LaGrange, Mo. } June 7. 1905. 



XII. 
THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS. 

I count it a privilege to address a graduating 
class of LaGrange college. There is not an 
educational institution in the state that has 
proportionately more sterling men among its 
alumni. 

The public spirit that secured the location of 
the college was assurance that the influence 
and environs would be conducive to the up- 
building of high character. 

From this institution have gone forth many 
of the leading men of this and other states, in 
the ministry, in politics, in secular professions, 
to grace the judicial bench and the presidential 
chairs of academies and colleges. 

The citizens of LaGrange builded broader 
than their vision when they secured the loca- 
tion of this college. LaGrange has been taken 
from the list of obscure hamlets and placed in 
the ranks of towns that will live through the 
distinguished names that go forth from this 
college. 

Names are the monuments of civilization. 
Names stand for principles, for measures, for 
truths. 

135 



136 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Into one's name are garnered the treasures 
of his soul. "Good name in man or woman 
dear, my Lord, is the immediate jewel of their 
souls." With wisps of straw the farmer binds 
the wheat into bundles; with ribbon the flor- 
ist ties blossoms into bunches. Your name is 
the band that binds together the qualities of 
your heart. 

Without names history would be impossible, 
individuals would be lost in the sea of the mul- 
titude, and so it would be of cities, states and 
nations. By name men make contracts, form 
partnerships, assume commercial obligations. 
By name men take the oath of office, and enter 
into the holy bonds of marriage. By name 
penalties are imposed on the guilty and honors 
bestowed on the worthy. 

The ambition to make a good name is com- 
mendable because it involves the storing in the 
name of enduring virtues. 

"Names of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime; 
And departing leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time. 
Footprints that perhaps another 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main 
A; forlorn and shipwrecked brother 

Seeing may take heart again." 



THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS 137 

Good names are footprints on the sands of 
time. It is the virtues garnered in the names 
of Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Samuel, and Da- 
vid that make them a potent force in he world 
to-day. The graces and beauties in the 
thoughts that are bound in the names of Ho- 
mer, Plato, Virgil, Horace, Dante, and Milton 
endure through the centuries as granaries for 
mental nourishment and soul food. 

When a man dies the scaffolding falls away, 
but the name epitomizes his character and re- 
mains. Cities become heaps, empires ruin, 
bronze tablets and marble monuments dissolve 
into dust, but the names of the great and good 
endure as the years of God. 

Great movements in the progress of civili- 
zation have found expression in characters who 
possessed in an eminent degree the spirit of 
the work and time, and around these names 
clusters the story of the events. The history 
of the reformation is written in the names of 
Luther and Calvin. The tragic events of 
France, during the life of Napoleon are linked 
inseparably with his name. The Christian 
character and virtues of Victoria during her long 
reign gave expression to the spirit of her best 
people and were the bulwark of England's 
laws. Victoria's name gave to England's ar- 
my and navy strength and courage. 



138 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

The spirit of freedom and determined resist- 
ance to British oppression was formulated and 
was moulded into action by Washington, Ad- 
ams, Madison, Jefferson and Henry. In this 
cluster of names is preserved the true spirit of 
the revolution. 

Paul with a mental survey of the great 
names of history says, "God hath highly ex- 
alted Jesus and given him a name above ev- 
ery name." All the qualities that are distrib- 
uted among many names and that confer re- 
nown upon each are swept into this one pre- 
eminent the name above every name. As the 
tree is above the grass it shelters, as the star 
is above the cloud it illumines, so the name of 
Jesus is above all the names of earth and heav- 
en. From a captive nation, a degraded prov- 
ince, an humble village, an obscure peasant's 
cottage, comes this unschooled youth. Born 
in poverty, working with his hands at hard la- 
bor, doomed to thirty years obscurity, spurned 
by rulers, despised by priests, mobbed by the 
common people, counted a traitor to his coun- 
try and religion, executed by a method de- 
signed for criminals. 

He wrote no book, no poem, no drama, in- 
vented no instrument, fashioned no law, out- 



THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS. 139 

lined no philosophy, contributed nothing to 
geometry or astronomy. At the end of his 
career He stood solitary and silent, deserted, 
doomed. 

With his last breath he said: "It is finished." 
He had completed the work that was to place 
His name above every other name. 

Centuries have come and gone. The name 
of Jesus has lifted the gates of Empires from 
their hinges and turned the stream of humanity 
from a downward course upward. 

His name has leavened literature, made 
laws just, governments humane, manners gen- 
tle. It has builded cathedrals, refined art, in- 
spired music. His name has so glorified the 
cross, that, instrument of torture, that queens 
and beautiful women seek to enhance their love- 
liness by hanging it about their necks. 

Milton divides honor with Dante, Bacon 
with Newton, Moltke with Napoleon but none 
has risen to divide with Jesus. 

He eclipses all others as the noonday sun 
hides the stars which deck the heavens. 

The influence of Christ in securing the up- 
ward movement of society is apparent to all 
students of the science of progress. 

Wherever the name of Jesus is known it 



140 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

is an inspiration to higher ideals. Within its 
circle are encompassed gentleness and justice, 
wisdom and mercy, sympathy and tenderness, 
courage and self-sacrifice, and above all love, 
love divine, love excelling. 

His wonderful name purifies the life. The 
most difficult of all arts is the art of living. 
Man understands and controls fire, wind and 
water, he tames the beast and makes it his 
burden bearer, changes poisons into healing 
balms, and the time seems near when he will 
hold every secret in nature, of land, of sea, 
of sky. 

Although man has become master in every 
other realm, he breaks down when it comes to 
living righteously. To-day he is reason, to- 
morrow passion ; to-day sympathy, to-morrow 
repugnance; to-day charity, to-morrow ven- 
geance. In a single day he runs through the va- 
rious moods that are repugnant to each other. 
As Ben Jonson says : "We differ from ourselves 
as well as others." 

Man's ambition struggles for precedence; he 
is swayed by a collusion of interests; his un- 
ruly tongue in one hour pours out consolation, 
sympathy, love, the next it is a club for anger, 
a poison for envy, a dagger for hatred. Tis 



THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS. 141 

here that Christ transcends all others, — midst 
all the distractions of life He maintained peer- 
less perfection. He entered life at the lowest 
period of morals in the world's history of the 
race. The village where he spent his early 
life was so low in the scale of morals that won- 
der was expressed that any good could come 
out of Nazareth. With these environs He 
grew to be the fairest flower that ever bloomed 
in the garden of humanity. 

Jesus is a contradiction of all laws of culture, 
wealth and family. He was an untrained 
youth. No teacher or school fed His genius. He 
had no access to Grecian literature or Roman 
law. Yet He discovered childhood and empha- 
sized the importance of early training. He set 
forth the true principles of education, and left 
for us the germinal teachings that have de- 
veloped into the schools and colleges of to- 
day. There is not an Oxford, a Cambridge a 
Harvard, a Yale, a Vassar, a William Jewell, 
a LaGrange, that was not founded by His fol- 
lowers. 

So with his relations to industry and wealth. 
He was poor. For nearly thirty years he 
pushed the carpenter's plane to earn his daily 
bread. He knew nothing of money through 



142 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

handling large treasures, yet He grasped the 
principles of property and wealth and so re- 
lated them to industry and integrity that in- 
dividuals and nations have prospered in pro- 
portion as they have adopted His principles in 
business methods. 

Although he was crucified at thirty-three, 
His teachings guide the wisest thinkers of to- 
day. One of America's leading financiers re- 
cently said: "All political economy of to-day 
is being written under the influence of Jesus 
Christ." 

Jesus established no home and sustained 
none of the relations of husband and father, 
yet He founded the Christian home and en- 
throned love as law. 

But the preeminence of Jesus' name lies in 
a greater realm than any of these, the sphere 
of the spirit, of the soul. 

It is in that name and through that name 
alone that we may approach God the Father. 
"Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name 
He will give it you." 

Every true prayer must be made in the name 
above every name. "If ye ask anything in my 
name." Any check drawn in that name will be 
honored by heaven's bank. 



THE NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS. 143 

No other name is given in Heaven or on earth 
whereby we can be saved. Through that name 
man is redeemed, saved, transformed, glorified. 
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus for He shall 
save the people from their sins." 



THE BIBLE IN THE BUILDING OF 
CHARACTER. 



During the past few weeks I have been doing historic, cultured 
New England, and my heart has been thrilled more than once. The 
founder of the State whose motto is ''Hope," and of this historic 
church the very sight of which thrills every Baptist heart, wrote these 
words at the age of 74: "From my childhood the Father of light and 
mercies touched my soul with a love to himself, to his only begotten, 
and to his holy Scriptures." 

Who doubts that Roger Williams' love and loyalty to the holy 
scriptures, caused him to cling tenaciously to the doctrines of regen- 
eration, believers' baptism, and religious liberty which have wrought 
so mightily during the past two and a half centuries in the world's 
civil and religious conquest. 

10 



THE BIBLE IN THE BUILDING OF 
CHARACTER 



Address. 

To convention of Baptist Young People's Union of America. 

Providence. R. I.. July 11. 1902. 

Fibst Baptist CHrECH founded by Roger Williams. 1639 



XII. 

THE BIBLE IN THE BUILDING OF 
CHARACTER. 

Some one has said that the greatest pleasure in 
life is love; the greatest treasure, contentment; 
the greatest possession, health. There may be a 
sense in which this is true, but in reality the great- 
est pleasure, the greatest treasure and the great- 
est possession in all human existence is highly 
developed Christian character. There is no posses- 
sion on earth or in heaven or in all the universe of 
God so valuable as a Christly character. 

Christ-like character is more to be desired; than 
.wealth, position, power or any attainment within 
the range and reach of man. Therefore, that 
which contributes most largely to this end 
should be prized above all values. 

The Bible is God's instrument — God's means 
for forming and developing character. The pur- 
pose of God in giving the Bible to man was that 
its formative truths might be transmuted into 
character. The Book of God was not given to man 
for its history, its imagery nor its poetry, but it 
was given as a basis and builder of character. 

Christian Character! What is it? It is a 
character that is Christ-like; a character that 
thinks as Christ thought; that lives as He lived; 

i 4 7 



148 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

that loves as He loved; that serves as He served, 
and the only way of knowing how the Master 
thought, lived, loved and served is through the in- 
spired word of God. No wonder that its verities 
are eternal and its value priceless. 

The Bible and the Christ are inseparable. They 
are each called the Word; and to minimize the 
written Word is to dishonor the living Word; to 
magnify the Book is to glorify Christ. The Bible 
and the Christ stand or fall together. The storm 
centers of the Christian religion, to-day as in cen- 
turies past are the inspiration of the Scriptures 
and the divinity of Jesus. Is Jesus what He 
claimed to be — the Son of God ? Is the Bible what 
it claims to be — God-breathed ? If so, it must be 
the meat and drink of all spiritual life and 
growth. 

The spiritual life has only one text-book, and 
the Holy Spirit is its author and interpreter. 

The Spirit of God is the agent and the Word of 
God is the instrument in the work of man's regen- 
eration and development into Godlikeness. 

Every grace found in the Bible is placed there 
to be used as a constructive force in character 
building. Jesus possessed all of them in the high- 
est degree, and the one who knows these graces 
best and appropriates them to his daily life ap- 
proaches nearest the ideal character of Christ. 



THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER. 149 

The Christliest character in attendance upon this 
convention of the Young Baptists of America is 
the one who most sincerely loves the Book and 
most consistently lives its teachings. 

President Roosevelt recently wrote to the Ep- 
worth Leaguers gathered at Baltimore: 

"Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes 
that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven 
with our whole civic and social life that it would 
be literally impossible for us to figure what that 
life would be if these teachings were removed. 
We would lose almost all the standards by which 
we judge both private and public morals." 

He closed the letter with these significant 
words: "We plead for a closer and wider and 
deeper study of the Bible so that our people may 
be in fact as well as theory 'doers of the word and 
not hearers only.' " 

Bible truths are transmitted into the moral fiber 
of the one who loves them. Love for the Word 
assures the assimilation of its truths into charac- 
ter, therefore love for the Word ought to be the 
distinctive characteristic of every young Chris- 
tian. 

The keynote the battlecry of this Convention 
is CONQUEST. Conquest of Self— of the 
Word— of the World. But the conquest of the 



150 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Word is infinitely more important than the con- 
quest of Self or of the World, because the con- 
quest of the world is basic and inclusive. 

Conquest of the Word impels conquest of Self. 
"Thy word have I hid in my heart that 1 might 
not sin against thee." "I write unto you young 
men because the Word of God abideth in you and 
ye have overcome the evil one." 

We grow rich as we search for golden treasures 
in God's mine. Some time ago, when among the 
glaciers of Alaska I visited the largest gold-mine 
on earth. Its 680 steel stamps were grinding out 
a stream of gold continuously, never stopping day 
or night. But the Psalmist discovered a far richer 
mine. Listen! "The words of thy mouth are 
dearer to me than thousands of silver and gold." 

We grow rich and wise and strong as we wel- 
come into our hearts and consciences the thoughts 
of God. We become spiritual athletes by giving 
expression to God's ideas in lip and life. 

Again, Conquest of the Word inevitably leads 
to the conquest of the World for no one can truly 
know the Word of God without a yearning zeal 
to give it to the lost. 

While Cary was working at his last he kept his 
Bible lying open before him and herein was the 
promise and prophecy of his marvelous mission- 
ary conquests. 



THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER. 151 

Our times demand emphatic cleavage to the 
Book. The striking characteristics and tendencies 
of the hour can only be met by the Bible. Com- 
mercialism predominates everywhere. Men have 
always traded but never on such a collossal scale 
as now. 

There is real danger lest the spirit of commer- 
cial conquest dwarf even the desire for conquest 
of self and the world. I can conceive of nothing 
that will check this grasping spirit save searching 
of the word, thereby implanting in human hearts 
its cardinal truths, the Father-hood of God the 
Brotherhood of man, the Spirit of the Golden 
Rule, and above all to learn that true greatness 
consists not in getting but giving ; that real glory 
comes not from being served but from serving. 

The Christianity of the Bible has brought our 
nation to its present imperial position and the 
Bible alone can defend our beloved country against 
the dangers which our prosperity has produced. 
The central principle of the Book — "Sacrifice and 
Service" is the only antidote for the dangers of 
this hour. 

Again, If the twentieth century is to solve the 
social problem it will be consummated through 
Bible developed characters. When the true spirit 
of the Book is imbibed there will be no clash be- 
tween the classes and the masses. The Bible is pe- 



152 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

culiarly adapted to our day because this is an age 
of the people and the Bible is pre-eminently the 
book for the people. 

The degree of enlightenment in the world is in 
the exact ratio with the prevalence of the ethical 
principles of the Word of God. Why is it that the 
United States, England and Germany are leaders 
in the world's onward and upward movements? 
It is because in these countries you will find an 
open Bible and an efficient ministry holding forth 
the Word of life. 

Why is it that Italy, Spain, Mexico and the 
States of South America are so far behind ? Is it 
not because the Bible is kept from the people? 
Is it not because the current of God's thought is 
withheld from the masses? The religion of the 
Bible is the only religion that can lead a nation or 
a world to the highest civilization. This Book is 
inspired of God and given to man for the pur- 
pose of teaching him how to construct out of his 
ruined and fallen condition a Christly character. 

God has an ideal plan for every earthly life and 
that plan is revealed in his Word. Would that we 
could realize that God is talking to us through 
His word ; would that we could feel as did Jeremy 
Taylor who would open his Bible and say, 
"Speak Lord, thy servant heareth." 



THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER. 153 

Great indeed is the privilege of opening a book 
and communing with great authors such as 
Homer, Shakespeare, Milton — to live in their 
presence — to listen to their voices — to think their 
thoughts — but infinitely greater is the privilege of 
opening the Bible and communing with the 
eternal God; to live in His presence; to think His 
thoughts and to realize that he is talking to me 
personally and has given me a pattern and plan 
for my life, and revealed it with such distinctness 
that I can follow it, and in the following will be 
transformed into a character like that of the Son 
of God. 

Jesus is our model in all things. He possessed 
no characteristic more striking than His remark- 
able familiarity with the word of God. 

At the age of twelve we find him asking and 
answering questions about the Scriptures. He 
quoted them all through life using them daily for 
argument, illustration and instruction. He also 
used them for His own personal support in times 
of trial. 

In that strange scene of His temptation, three 
times He quotes Scripture in conquering the 
tempter, and again on the cross three times He 
quotes the Word for support and comfort. His 
last sentence, "It is finished," was a quotation 
from the sacred writings. 



154 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

I say it reverently, Jesus found it necessary, in 
temptation and trial, in teaching and preaching, 
in sorrow and suffering, to turn to the Scriptures 
for support and strength. 

If the Son of God, with His kingly character 
and divine personality, felt the necessity of know- 
ing and utilizing the Scriptures, how much greater 
is our need in the development of a character like 
unto His own? 

Would that I could induce every Christian in 
America to search daily earth's greatest book. No 
field of knowledge is so inviting; no information 
so far reaching and consequential; no book so 
precious. 

I learned to love it when a boy. Mother died be- 
fore I could read and father soon followed. Well 
do I remember the day when at the age of twelve 
I left my Uncle's home to go forth into the world 
to fight life's battles alone. 

The morning I left a sister older than myself 
took me into a room and read to me out of a little 
pocket Bible. After reading we kneeled down 
and with her arms around my neck, with tears she 
pleaded with God that I might take the Bible as 
the guide of my life. Then she gave me the book 
exacting a promise that I would read it daily. 

That little pocket Bible I carried for years. It 
was a shield against temptation and its daily read- 



THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER. 155 

Ings prepared my heart to receive the Savior. I 
now count it my highest privilege and divinest 
duty to search the book of infinite wisdom. 

My friend, when you take the Bible into your 
hand you hold the greatest work visible in all the 
world. You hold God's guide book for your life. 

When life has lost its charm; when business 
ceases to allure; when music fails to fascinate and 
poetry no longer stirs the soul; when things of 
earth cannot satisfy, you will find this book the 
source of sweetest peace and divinest comfort. 



JOHN MASON PECK. 



JOHN MASON PECK. 



Address. 

Missouri Baptist General Association. 

Marshall, Mo. 

October 22, 1903. 



XIII. 

JOHN MASON PECK. 

Were this the beginning of the nineteenth 
century instead of the twentieth, John Mason 
Peck would be an unimportant study, and the 
history of Missouri Baptists could be told in 
a single sentence: "Not a Baptist organiza- 
tion west of the Mississippi." 

Yon tiny stream trickling down the moun- 
tain side attracts little notice as the traveller 
steps across and passes on to grander scenery, 
but had he started with Clark and Lewis just 
opposite Alton and followed the Missouri back 
to its source in the Rockies, noting day by day 
the vast territory it was fertilizing, that little 
rivulet so thoughtlessly stepped across would 
have had a very different meaning. 

With somewhat similar interest we may 
trace a tiny thread of life that had its source 
back among the New England hills and grew 
into a mighty stream of spiritual power, en- 
riching all this Western territory, especially 
the state of Missouri. 

During the infancy of a republic is an auspic- 
ious time to be born ; a country farm house a 
most charming place to be reared; a common 
grammar school supplies the best training for 



159 



160 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

a growing mind; and poor, honest and relig- 
ious parents furnish a boy the best chances 
to become a great man. All these advantages 
conspired to make John Mason Peck distin- 
guished. 

He was born on a farm near Litchfield, Conn., 
1789. 

The American Republic was scarcely five 
years old ; the Nutmeg State was justly proud 
of her common school system ; and Asa and 
Hannah Peck furnished their boy with the 
other pre-requisites to achievement, for they 
were poor, honest and religious. 

John was their only child and early became 
their support, for the father was a cripple, the 
mother an invalid. His early education was 
limited to a few months each year in a country 
school. 

At the age of eighteen he was converted and 
joined the Congregational church. Soon there 
was an outburst in this new-born soul : "Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do?" "Thou art a 
chosen vessel to bear my name." "Not so, 
Lord, I have invalid parents, my education is 
limited, my purse empty, I must abide the use- 
ful calling of husbandry and serve thee in a 
private station." 

Now I touch a responsive chord in the heart 
of every man called of God to preach the gos- 



JOHN MASON PECK. 161 

pel, for Peck suffered the same agonies away 
back in the beginning" of the nineteenth cen- 
tury that the young minister does to-day. No 
sooner did he feel called of God to proclaim the 
"glad tidings," than he was taken with that 
consequent, malignant disease which so often 
proves fatal to the young preacher. I refer to 
that lingering, languishing, hungering, grippy 
disease, matrimonitis. Matrimonitis under- 
mines the system more surely than meningitis, 
tonsilitis, gastritis, iritis, peritonitis, appendi- 
citis or any other itis. 

Peck caught the contagion when he was 
scarcely eighteen and grew rapidly worse when 
he had found Sallie Payne, a bright New York 
girl. The disease, however, terminated happily 
in marriage when he was nineteen years old. 

A year of married life in the home of the 
"Old Folks," ended as usual with a moving, 
and in this case it was to another state. It was 
to the Rip Van Winkle country he went, and 
old Van might have slept a hundred years in- 
stead of twenty and awakened to find no 
change in that mountainous region, save here 
and there a small clearing and a log cabin in 
which the settler and his family lived. 

John Peck and his wife thoroughly agreed on 

all vital points, and from the reading of the 
11 



162 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

word they had been led to believe that they 
had not received scriptural baptism. So, on 
a beautiful autumn morning in this very month 
of October, ninety-two years ago, there might 
have been seen a man, twenty-two years of 
age, slender, of medium height, wiry, alert, 
brown eyes, black hair, and determined fea- 
tures, carrying in his arms a babe one year old, 
while by his side walked his wife, wending 
their way over the Catskill mountains by a 
winding, unfrequented path, bound for a lit- 
tle Baptist church five miles away. 

One month later this mountaineer and fam- 
ily made a second journey to that little church 
in the mountains, and after a long series of 
questions by pastor and deacons, the young 
couple were baptized in a clear mountain 
stream. Pastor Harvey, recognizing the 
bright mind and ready tongue of the new con- 
vert, insisted that he "exercise his gift" at 
their next meeting. Strange, Peck took for 
his text : "Go ye into all the world and preach 
the gospel to every creature." 

"He has a gift," said the brethren; "he must 
preach," so they licensed him to use his gift. 
His first work was in Catskill, N. Y,, where 
he taught school for a living and preached 
three or four times a week, his only salary be- 



JOHN MASON PECK. 163 

ing the penny collections on Sunday. He lov- 
ed work rather than wages, and the brethren 
saw that he had his preference. 

This young preacher started out by keeping 
a journal in which he recorded the most min- 
ute account of his work, and this journal has 
been of great value to modern historians. 
Peck's "Western Annals" are to-day text 
books on Pioneer History. 

Hear an extract from his Journal of March 
12th, 1812 : (He has now been a Baptist six 
months.) "I find by enumeration that I have 
had the privilege of hearing twenty-four Bap- 
tist preachers improve. I have seen, besides 
my wife and myself, three persons baptized. 
Seven times I have communed since I became 
a Baptist. I have attended nine monthly meet- 
ings and five extra meetings for cases of dis- 
cipline ; have voted for the exclusion of two 
members, and have used my gift twenty-seven 
times." 

Just now there is a rustle among the dry 
leaves of Baptists. News comes from over the 
seas that Judson and Rice have been converted 
to Baptist views. The story goes around and 
Baptist hearts are fired. Peck soliloquizes: 
"My heart is grieved for the heathen in Jug- 
gernaut and Ganges ignorance. O, how I wish 
I might bear the gospel to them." 



i6 4 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Three years later he met Luther Rice, who 
had returned from India and was posting from 
one association to another, fanning the flame 
of missionary zeal. It needed but little effort 
to kindle a soul already aglow and Peck soon 
found himself visiting associations in the cause 
of missions. 

Peck writes in his journal : "I cannot for- 
bear opening my mind. I learn that it is in 
contemplation to establish a mission in the 
Missouri Territory. I have ever had my mind 
upon the people west of the Mississippi. If 
it is in my lot to labor among the heathen, the 
Louisiana Purchase, of all parts of the world 
would be my choice." 

This earnest desire reached and touched the 
hearts of the Philadelphia Board of Missions 
and arrangements were made for Peck to take 
a theological course in Dr. Staughton's sem- 
inary at Philadelphia. His seminary chum 
was a young licentiate from David's Fork, Ky., 
James E. Welch. Here was formed a friend- 
ship that lasted until death. 

After two years study and graduation came 
the trying ordeal of examination before the 
mission board. Peck writes: "The agony is 
over. The board has accepted Mr. Welch and 
me as missionaries to the Missouri Territorv. 



JOHN MASON PECK. 165 

From this moment I consider myself most sac- 
redly devoted to missions, O, Lord, may I 
live and die in the cause." The board required 
him to pledge himself to missions for life. 

The following two months were spent in a 
hurried preparation for the journey to Mis- 
souri. 

Friday afternoon, July 25th, 1817, sees John 
Peck in a little one-horse gig, with his wife 
and three children, leaving the door of his old 
Connecticut home, never expecting to see his 
father and mother again. They were starting 
on a journey of more than twelve hundred 
miles, a far greater undertaking than to circle 
the earth to-day. 

This son now leaving the parental home is 
not a thoughtless youth, unacquainted with the 
depth and tenderness of a father's heart and a 
mother's love. He is twenty-eight years of 
age. His mother, with Christian spirit rises 
above even maternal love, and while her lips 
quiver her soul is firm. There were tears in 
her eyes, but her heart said : "If the Lord has 
need of him, only son that he is, let His holy 
will be done. He gave, and though precious 
this gift, if there need be a sacrifice of it, God 
forbid that I should hinder." 



166 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Not so with the father. He was aged and in- 
firm and had not the faith or fortitude of the 
mother. He wept aloud and the last sounds 
that fell on the little wagon as it left the old 
home, were the agonizing cries of the aged 
father. 

After three months of travel this lonely com- 
pany was joined by Mr. Welch and wife, who 
met them at Lexington, Ky. Another month's 
travel brought them to their objective point, 
St. Louis, Dec. 1st, 1817, then a village of sev- 
en hundred people. 

A glance as to conditions. Only fourteen 
years before Peck's arrival marked the world's 
greatest stroke of statesmanship. It was a 
date when an empire almost as large as all 
Continental Europe, and larger by fifty-five 
thousand square miles than the thirteen orig- 
inal states, passed from an intolerant monarchy 
to a liberty loving republic, without the shed- 
ding of one drop of blood. 

Nothing has happened since Pentecost, save 
the Lutheran Reformation and the Declaration 
of American Independence, that counts so 
much for the civilization, enlightenment and 
uplift of the world as the Louisiana Purchase. 
If the Mississippi had remained the western 



JOHN MASON PECK. i67 

limit of this nation the progress of Protestant- 
ism would have been arrested, and therefore, 
humanity, centuries. 

A century ago there was not a Protestant 
church between the Father of Waters and the 
mighty Pacific. There were a few scattered 
Protestants here and there, but they were not 
permitted to gather together for worship ex- 
cept under specified restrictions. They were 
forbidden to ring a bell, perform a marriage 
ceremony, baptize a convert or observe the 
Lord's Supper. 

When Peck and Welch landed in Missouri 
they found at least 1,000 Catholics to every 
Protestant — 1,000 to 1 ; now there are five times 
as many Protestants as Catholics. 

One hundred years ago there was not a 
single Protestant church west of the Missis- 
sippi, now there are over 40,000 and 13,797 are 
Baptist. In fact, Baptists were pioneers in the 
Protestant occupation of Missouri and the 
West. They had the first preachers, and the 
first houses for evangelical worship. 

At the time of the purchase there was only 
one Protestant preacher on Louisiana Terri- 
tory. In fact, under Spanish rule the law re- 
quired every settler to be a bona-fide Catho- 
lic. 



i68 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

The first Protestant preacher to enter was 
John Clark, a Baptist, who four years before 
the purchase went down the Mississippi alone 
in a small canoe, camping in the woods at 
night. He settled in St. Louis county. He 
found in St. Louis a Baptist layman named 
Abraham Musick. 

Musick addressed a letter to the Spanish 
commandant Trudeau, then located in St. 
Louis, requesting that Rev. Clark be allowed 
to hold services in Musick's home. The com- 
mandant replied that such a request was con- 
trary to the law and could not be granted. 
"You must not put a bell on your house and 
call it a church, or suffer your children to be 
christened by anyone save the parish priest." 

A few years later, Thos. Musick, a Baptist 
minister, walked from Kentucky to Missouri, 
and in 1807 organized the Fee Fee church, now 
the oldest living Protestant church in the 
Louisiana Territory. This mother of all the 
Protestant and Baptist churches of the West 
is only an hour's ride on the electric car from 
the World's Fair Grounds. 

Within three months after the arrival of 
Peck and Welch they raised $3,000 to build the 
first Baptist church in St. Louis, and this in a 
village where there were only seven Baptists 



JOHN MASON PECK. 169 

and about twenty Protestants. That church 
was the mother of all St. Louis churches. It 
stood at the corner of Third and Market 
streets. I recently visited the spot. It is now 
a busy market place and the hundreds of Bap- 
tists and Protestants that pass it every day 
are not aware of the sacred associations that 
cluster around it. Could this old corner speak 
it would tell of many heart aches, trials and 
struggles and disappointments that came to 
these pioneers who suffered without complaint, 
determined, in the strength of the Lord, to an- 
nul the edict that had been so boastingly set 
forth : "Protestantism shall not cross the Mis- 
sissippi." 

Peck spent his first nine years of missionary 
life following the bridle paths through the wil- 
derness of Missouri and Illinois. Wherever 
he found a nucleus of Baptist families he called 
them together into some farm house and 
preached to them. We hear of him now down 
about St. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau, 
where he found a few small churches. Later 
he makes a trip to the Boone's Lick country up 
about old Franklin, Howard county. He mentions 
the names of two with whom he stopped in this 
section, James Wiseman from Virginia and a 
Brother Callaway, the son-in-law of Daniel Boone. 



i7o THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

He writes: "Here I first met Daniel Boone. He 
was eighty years old. Instead of being the rough, 
burly, uncouth pioneer and Indian fighter I im- 
agined him to be, he was a modest, refined, 
cultured old man. Intelligent, for he had treas- 
ured up a wonderful experience of adventure 
for four score of years. He was sociable and 
communicative. He spoke feelingly and with 
solemnity of being a creature of providence 
ordained by heaven as a pioneer in the wilder- 
ness to advance the civilization of his country." 

Peck was a great organizer. He planted, 
then he organized that the planting might 
avail. In his second year he organized "The 
United Society for the Spread of the Gospel," 
by uniting St. Louis and Illinois Baptists. Ev- 
erywhere he went he organized mite societies 
for collecting money for missions. 

Just previous to his first visit to the Boone's 
Lick country had been the Indian war, in 
which many lives were lost and much property 
destroyed. In consequence he found much un- 
rest among settlers and great excitement over 
the sale and confiscation of lands. Many an 
honest, hard working settler was forced out of 
his clearing and made to delve deeper into the 
forest and clear another spot for home and 
family. And as Mr. Peck would ride up to the 



JOHN MASON PECK. i7i 

fence of a farmer, with his big heart full of 
love and concern for him, he was accosted with 
the words : "Are you one of the land specu- 
lators, stranger?" 

Early in 1819 Peck and Welch decid- 
ed that St. Charles was the most prom- 
ising place for an academy. But the 
school was short lived, for just at this 
time the eagerly watched for mail brought a 
very unwelcome letter. It was from Dr. 
Staughton, the Secretary of the Board, and 
read : "The Western Mission must be closed 
at once for want of funds and lack of results. 
Brother Welch is requested to remain in St. 
Louis, but not as a missionary and Brother 
Peck is requested to report at Fort Wayne and 
join Brother McCoy in his labors among the 
Indians." 

Now was conceived in Peck's brain the Am- 
erican Baptist Home Mission Society. Peck 
saw the greatness of the work in the West. He 
saw the future greatness of the American re- 
public. He saw that a society must be formed 
that would comprehend the whole field of 
North America, and began the agitation which 
resulted in the organization of such a society. 

In 1832 delegates from five hundred churches 
met in the city of New York and organized the 



1 72 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

American Baptist Home Mission Society, the 
outline of whose constitution Peck conceived 
in St. Louis and carried with him to Xew York. 

This society was the parent of the Home 
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and 
these two organizations have been the parents 
or foster parents of almost every state mission 
board. 

Peck being no longer supported by the Phil- 
adelphia board found it necessary to enter some 
land and labor for the support of his family. He 
moved to Rock Springs, 111., and entered a half 
section of land. But his heart was so full of 
mission work that he took much time from his 
farm and worked among the churches scatter- 
ed over Missouri and Western Illinois. One 
of his greatest trials was the opposition he met 
to missions among the Baptist preachers. 

Shortly after the Philadelphia board had dis- 
missed Mr. Peck the Massachusetts board ac- 
cepted him and he was permitted to continue 
his itinerary work. 

In April, 1824, he began organizing Sunday 
schools in Illinois and Missouri. This was the 
beginning of Sunday schools in the Mississippi 
valley. This was a year before the Sunday 
School Union was formed in Philadelphia. 
Let Missouri continue to lead in good works. 



JOHN MASON PECK. 173 

I quote from his journal a few months later : 
"Iamnowat Liberty, Clay county, Mo. Around 
me is the wilderness over which the Indians 
roam after the buffalo. Could I but succeed in 
planting the Bible here it would greatly re- 
joice my heart. The people who have settled 
this country are destitute of public spirit and 
there are a hundred families without a Bible." 
Had not Peck sown good seed in the hearts of 
the Liberty heathen Dr. Green might possibly 
be out of a job. 

While East Peck secured $500 from the Bap- 
tists of Massachusetts to start a theological 
seminary at Rock Springs. Think of starting 
a theological seminary on $500. But a mighty 
hand held that $500. 

The seminary opened one year later. Peck 
was the faculty, professor of abstract theology, 
homiletics, Old and New Testament, Greek 
and Latin, literature and science, the whole 
show. In less than three years the seminary 
had one hundred students. Later Peck went 
East again and secured $20,000, $10,000 of this 
from that eminent Boston physician, Dr. Shurtleff. 

Then the seminary was merged into Shurt- 
leff College at Upper Alton, 111., which is still 
a great educational power. 



1 74 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Peck established and edited the first religious 
newspaper published in the west — "The Pion- 
eer." Nicholas Brown, the founder of the old- 
est Baptist university on earth gave Peck $500 
to establish the paper. The profits were to go 
to the seminary. Who ever heard of profits on 
a religious newspaper? 

We have only touched on the labors and 
plans of evangelization set on foot by this pion- 
eer preacher during the first dozen years of his 
work. Preaching the gospel, establishing 
churches, instituting Sunday schools, organiz- 
ing mission societies, establishing a college and 
theological seminary, and to further all these 
and bind them together, he establishes a relig- 
ious newspaper. 

But his work still extends. In his journal 
of July, this same year, 1834, he writes : "Re- 
ceived a communication from Mr. Allen, agent 
of the Baptist Tract Society, urging me to en- 
gage for the agency of the Mississippi valley. 
'A great work, it must be done, I feel bound to 
give the matter a prayerful consideration.' ' ; 
It was largely Peck's zeal and influence that 
led to the development of this tract socie- 
ty into the great American Baptist Publication 
Society. 



JOHN MASON PECK. 175 

In addition to all these duties he assumed 
the pastorate of the Rock Springs church, serv- 
ing one fourth of his time. What a joy was 
that fourth to his weary tired soul. That bles- 
sed pastorate! O, the many years since the 
precious word "pastor" has been applied to 
him! He places among his sweetest memories 
those happy days with the Rock Springs 
church. 

A most remarkable trait in the character of 
Dr. Peck was his volubility. He was informed 
on every subject and his resources in conver- 
sation were inexhaustible. In social circles he 
was the acknowledged autocrat. He talked 
because all wished to hear him talk. He and 
Charles Dickens had a little tilt one day in St. 
Louis. Dickens was a talker, so was Peck. 
Dickens had traveled, so had Peck. Each tried 
to lead the conversation, but Peck was usually 
ahead. Dickens, however, got the earnest ear 
of Peck when he told him the story of how he 
was cared for and educated by a Baptist 
preacher. 

Let me say to you young ministers present 
that the inwardness of Peck's power was 
his supreme devotion to Christ and the cause 
of missions. Peck kept himself fresh and 
strong by preaching the fullness of the gospel 



1 76 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

of salvation through Christ and His atoning 
blood. He knew that every sermon must draw 
its whole strength from the Cross of Christ, 
and that he could preach it best when he felt it 
most. To Peck the Bible was as much a sym- 
bol of the presence of God as was the Ark of 
the Covenant to Obededom. He saw in every 
line of the book the finger of God and felt the 
very presence of God. 

A while ago I went to Bellefontaine Cem- 
etery and with difficulty found the grave of Dr. 
Peck. Standing by the little mound and mod- 
est monument that marks his grave, I said to 
a friend: "Here lies the man who has done 
more to make the West Protestant, evangel- 
ical and Baptist than any other one man." 



JOSEPH PARKER. 



12 



JOSEPH PARKER. 



An example of the spirit and methods of God's great mess- 
engers. 



Commencement Address. 

Southbbn Baptist Theological Seminaby. 

Louisville, Kentucky, 

June 1, 1903. 



XIV. 
JOSEPH PARKER. 

Many precious memories have been awakened 
since my arrival at Louisville. In Oct. 1885, 
when I entered the Seminary, Boyce, Broadus, 
Manley, Whitsitt and Hawes were my teachers 
and Kerfoot, my classmate, my seatmate. Since 
*Boyce and Broadus were translated their pictures 
have been hanging in my study, just over the 
desk, so that my eyes when raised from book or 
manuscript would rest on their inspiring faces. I 
laud Boyce — I loved him — the wise great-hearted 
preacher, teacher, theologian, financier, statesman. 
It was a high privilege to be directed, upborne, 
and pinned down to earnest, conscientious hard 
thinking by James Pettigru Boyce, the man to 
whom Southern Baptists are largely indebted for 
the existence of this institution — the largest Prot- 
estant School of prophets on earth, and perhaps 
the most potential agency in evangelizing the 
world. 

It is a sweet privilege for me now and then in 
my study to take in my hand Boyce's "Abstract of 
Theology," stroke it tenderly with a prayer that 
God would inspire me with a keener desire for 
more of the spirit of the author. 

I revered the gentle, sweet-spirited, high-born, 

179 



i8o THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

unpretentious Manley, the man who found Jesus 
as Savior when eight years of age and never 
seemed to get ten feet away from him during his 
long life of sendee. 

I honor the unique, original, historic Whitsitt. 
I believe in "Uncle Billy" — God bless him for- 
ever. I admire the enthusiastic, systematic, me- 
thodical, arguing Kerfoot. I respect the gifted, 
tactful, manful, eloquent Hawes. His magnetic 
personality has entered mv life as an inspirational 
force. 

I am indebted to Doctor John Albert Broadus 
for a larger view of life and owe the strivings of. 
my soul "to t be" and "to do," more largely to him 
than any other person, save my own father and 
mother, and the little woman I love. I shall never 
forget one morning he came before his Homiletic 
class: he had just returned from Xew York. 
Holding up a small bag he said, "Young men this 
contains a check for $55,000.00 for the Seminary 
from Mr. Rockefeller." Great was the enthus- 
iasm, shouts of joy and clapping of hands. With 
a twinkle in those speaking brown eyes he said 
"Hold on boys, I have something better than that 
for you. When Mr. Rockefeller gave me the 
check, I asked him to give me in a single sentence, 
that I might deliver to you, the secret of his suc- 
cess. Tell them it is 'stick-to-ativeness.' " 



JOSEPH PARKER. 181 

Doctor Broadus' keen wit and quick repartee, I, 
also, shall never forget. One afternoon in his 
New Testament class, we were studying the Acts, 
when Dr. Broadus asked me this question : 
"Brother Johnston, what does it mean here, where 
it says, "Saul sat at the feet of Gamaliel?" I re- 
plied: "Gamaliel was on an elevated platform 
something like the one you are sitting on, Doctor, 
and Saul was sitting near, but below in something 
like the position we are occupying with you at this 
time, and, Doctor, permit me to say that I feel that 
I am as fortunate to sit at your feet as Saul was to 
sit at the feet of Gamaliel." He replied, "I sup- 
pose you would have me to say that I am as for- 
tunate to have you as a pupil as Gamaliel was to 
have the Apostle Paul" — The boys clapped and 
yelled, and from that day 1 was called "Paul." 
Seventeen years ago this incident occurred, and I 
still receive letters from my classmates addressed, 
"My Dear Paul." 

The older students I am sure appreciate the 
tender memories that cluster about our Alma 
Mater, the institution which our dear teachers and 
ideals founded. 

When I received President Mullins' letter re- 
questing me to deliver an address, this subject 
took hold of me: "The Spirit and Methods of 
God's Great Messengers." 



i8z THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

We have come to know that there is no distinc- 
tion among missions, consequently none in mis- 
sionaries. That there is no distinctive difference 
between City Missions and Country Missions, be- 
tween Home Missions and Foreign Missions. 

A Missionary is one who is sent on Mission, a 
messenger with a message. 

The pastor of the rich, fashionable church in 
the city is as truly a missionary as the colporteur 
preaching in the mountains of Kentucky, or in 
the hall over the saloon down on the levee. The 
man sent of God with a message is a Missionist, 
whether he is delivering that message to students 
of a theological Seminary in America or telling it 
to savages in the wilds of Africa. 

Every God-called., God-sent Preacher is a mis- 
sionary chosen and appointed to bear a specific 
message somewhere, somehow. 

Every Christ-sent man ought to be a swift 
messenger, an efficient messenger, a great mes- 
senger. My aim in this study is to stir the young 
minister with the thought that he can be a great 
messenger of God. When God would speak :: a 
people, he expresses himself through a personal- 
ity, the stronger the personality the more telling 
the message. The spirit and method of the mes- 
senger measure the power of the message. I 
never known or read of a great preacher who was 



JOSEPH PARKER. 183 

not great in spirit and individual in methods. I 
do not say original in methods, but individual. 
There is a vast difference between originality and 
individuality. 

God's great messengers, in the past or present, 
in home or foreign fields, have been swayed by a 
passion for souls so earnest, so intense as to com- 
pel individuality in methods. The spirit of Ezekiel, 
Isaiah, Jeremiah, of Paul, Peter, John, of Cary, 
Judson, Clough, of Boyce, Broadus, Fuller were 
practically the same. They all possessed hearts 
ablaze with love for lost men, and a burning thirst 
to save them, but the work of each in method, was 
as distinct and different as their features. The 
great characters of the Old Testament, whom 
Doctor Sampey has been portraying so vividly in 
the Baptist Argus, were controlled by the same 
spirit, but God used the distinct personality of 
each in making known his truths. The method of 
one was severe, tragic, denunciatory, announcing 
God's judgments ; that of another was tender and 
persuasive, pleading God's love. The two great 
missionaries of the New Testament, the two most 
effective of the thirteen — Peter and Paul — how 
different in manner and method of presenting 
truth. Peter used Bible illustrations only; his ser- 
mons were confined almost wholly to Old Testa- 
ment warnings, prophecies and promises; while 



184 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Paul, like Moses, learned in the wisdom of his 
age, uses logic, quotes the heathen poets, gathers 
illustrations from nature and from well known 
athletic games and current political events, always 
adapts himself to the intelligence of his hearers. 
If Paul were on earth to-day he would keep in 
touch with the vital happenings and great forces 
that are working for the betterment of mankind. 
Perhaps Peter would not, but if he didn't, who 
would condemn him, for when God expresses 
himself with power he does it through a personal- 
ity distinct, unique, individual. 

The spirit that makes God's messengers great 
is always the same; it is the spirit and mind of 
Christ. The spirit of yearning love for lost men; 
the spirit of intensity; the spirit of aggressive in- 
dustry; the spirit of unselfish service. This same 
spirit may express itself in thoughtful meditative 
dignity, it may express itself in meekness and 
quietness, which in the sight of God "is of great 
price;" or it may express itself in forceful fear- 
lessness, or in unbounded enthusiasm, which, in 
the sight of God, is of greater price. Yes, the 
spirit is the same, but God uses the unique and 
(distinctive personality of the messenger, that 
which differentiates him from all others to make 
the message spoken a living convincing power. 

The ministerial student who would make the 



JOSEPH PARKER. 185 

most of God's message should cultivate fervency 
of spirit and that innate naturalness which induces 
a manner and style natural to himself. 

Julius Caesar on one occasion in the Forum, 
when young Brutus was pleading a case, re- 
marked : "Yon youth will make his mark, for he 
intends strongly." The young man of the class of 
1903 who intends strongly will make his mark, if 
he utilizes his own innate God-given personality 
instead of aping Mullins, Dargan, Robertson, 
Carter Helm Jones or some other "Kentucky 
Cardinal." 

We get more from the study of great men than 
we think. Since we too are composites, the more 
we know of Spiritual giants the better composites 
we make. 

In a recent study of the life and character of 
Joseph Parker I have been greatly helped. His 
early life is veiled in obscurity, except as he re- 
veals a little of it in his own writings. He comes 
of a long line of Puritans. 

His father, like the father of Thos. Carlyle, 
was an illiterate stone-cutter, and a stern old non- 
conformist, who, the son says, had the strength of 
two men and the will of ten. He brought up his 
children on the Bible and the shorter catechism. 
He taught them the fiercest kind of theology, and 
the deepest love of prayer. He writes, "When I 



186 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

was a boy I sincerely believed if I had touched a 
card or box of dice, there might have been mur- 
der under our roof. A pack of cards in my 
father's house; the very thought is blasphemy ! To 
him the word theatre, meant the devil; all actors 
were hypocrites, and all actresses harlots. And 
woe to the boy that touched a novel !" "This," he 
says, "was the atmosphere m which I was brought 
up." 

But in spite of all this training Joseph early de- 
cided to become a preacher, and before he was 
eighteen he preached on the streets and wher- 
ever he could get an audience. He did not enter 
a pulpit because none was opened to him, but on 
the village green, and near the blacksmith's door 
he thrilled groups of men and women with his 
boyish eloquence. Echoes of his doings went to 
London, and at twenty-one he was asked to be- 
come assistant to Dr. Campbell, at Whitefield Tab- 
ernacle. The assistantship did not last long, for 
Parker was too great in spirit and individual in 
methods to be bound to a master. 

His first call was to Banbury, a small town of 
5,000 souls, fifteen miles from London. 

His boyhood had not been spent at Rugby or 
Eton: his youth had not seen Oxford or Cam- 
bridge : nor had his early manhood been spent in 
a theological seminary. But on to Banbury he 



JOSEPH PARKER i87 

went, armed with the call of God, the strength of 
his great spirit and power of his personality. Vic- 
tory was his. He routed that city of Secularists 
and took it for Christ. That conquest won for 
him a place in the estimation of England that car- 
ried him to a larger field. He remained in Ban- 
bury five years and was called to Manchester. 

The Manchester pastorate of ioj years 
marked for him a definite advance in power of 
thought and expression. There he touched life at 
many points and he touched Alexander McClaren. 

He learned how to comfort men's hearts as well 
as to convince their heads. 

London is the Mecca of all clever English min- 
isters, so to London Joseph Parker was sure to go 
sooner or later. Despite the earnest pleadings of 
his devoted congregation, he left the crowded 
house at Manchester and went to empty Poultry 
Chapel in London. 

His friends thought he had made a mistake, 
but his rapid intelligence, ready resourcefulness, 
capacity for work and faith in God led him on, till 
he built a $350,000 Temple in the heart of roaring 
London. 

Parker was a broad, burly man, with a massive 
rough-hewn head with lofty forehead from which 
long gray locks fell on either side like a lion's 
mane. His small piercing eyes looked out from a 



188 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

bold clean-shaven face. He had a big head, 
a big hand, a big heart. He was an ideal of the 
robust type of man, a sort of Boanerges, having 
many of the features as well as characteristics of 
Beecher, whom he admired extravagantly. 
Their friendship was something like that of Car- 
lyle and Emerson. 

His church "The City Temple" is the largest 
Non-Conformist church in Great Britain except 
Spurgeon's and, since Spurgeon's death, Parker 
has been the best known preacher in London. For 
the past thirty-five years Dr. Parker has preached 
three sermons a week to crowded houses. Two 
on Sunday and one at noon on Thursday. His 
Thursday noon services have been very remarka- 
ble in that he preached 10 a crowded house of 
business men every day, from twelve to one 
o'clock, the year around, for over a third of a cen- 
tury. In all these years there was no diminution 
in his power or popularity. 

He was an untiring worker, as is shown by the 
number of periodicals, papers and magazines to 
which he contributed, and the 38 books which he 
wrote. His "People's Bible" in 30 volumes might 
be the work of a life time for an ordinary man. 
His most unique and popular work in his "Peo- 
ple's Family Prayer Book." It may be found in 
thousands of humble cottages all over Great Brit- 



JOSEPH PARKER. 189 

ain. It is a collection of a hundred short prayers 
printed in large type for the use of the illiterate 
in family worship and on other occasions. 

Dr. Parker has suffered the fate of all great 
men, that of being criticised and misjudged. He 
has been called egotistical, eccentric for a purpose, 
sensational, and uncultured. And all this he 
might have been to the prejudiced man, but the 
reality of his faith, the largeness of his courage, 
the directness of his aims are qualities that every 
one must recognize, and without which he could 
not have held his pulpit and his popularity for 35 
years. 

His study was a work shop well fitted out for 
efficient work and rapid work. A large comforta- 
ble room, well lighted, well heated, and most of 
all well ventilated. At his easy hand the choicest 
and best collection of books to be had. There were 
encyclopaedias, Biographies, Histories, Commen- 
taries, dictionaries, volumes of sermons, poems 
and novels. His walls were decorated with pic- 
tures of his favorite friends and great men whom 
Che admired and studied. There were 26 pictures 
of Gladstone in his study. Pointing to one of 
them one day he said: "That is the greatest man in 
the world," and turning to a large bust of Queen 
Victoria said : "And that is the greatest woman." 
Beecher's f ~ee was seen many times in that won- 



190 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

derful room, also pictures and books of Tennyson, 
Browning and Shakespeare. He said of these 
three poets : "I learn more from these men, than 
from any books except the Bible. They permeate 
all my preaching." Said he to a friend, "Yes, I 
read novels. What would I do without Barrie's 
'Little Minister' and Kipling's 'Tales from the 
Hills?' What would I do without their humor? 
Any one who helps me to see the comical side of 
life is my best schoolmaster in his own way. We 
preachers would soon dry up without humor. 
When I see one of my colleagues looking grum 
or hear that his sermons are getting prosy, I send 
him a funny story to read. If there is any sap 
left in his system, that will start it." 

He gave as a reason for wearing a gown in the 
pulpit, that his best coat was often too shabby to 
wear, and the gown saved a tailor's bill. 

Dr. Parker has been caricatured more than any 
preacher in the world, and his wife framed the 
pictures and hung them in her room which proved 
a source of great amusement. Parker edited the 
"London Sun" for one week Jan. 10 to i7, 1901. 
He yearned to see the day when London and all 
our great cities would have great religious dailies. 

Up to the time of his last illness he was still in 
the prime of his popularity and in universal de- 
mand. Notwithstanding his fifty years of hard 



JOSEPH PARKER. 191 

work, he was still doing his full quota. It had 
been a long road from that first sermon in 1848, to 
his acquired eminence, but he stood the journey 
well. 

Such a light as this, flashing as it does all over 
England and Great Britain, and even across the 
Atlantic and the farthermost seas, would lose its 
force to us did we not study the source of its 
brightness and strength. 

Humanly speaking, Dr. Parker's success was 
all his own. Some men owe much to hereditary 
momentum. They have a family of great men 
back of them. Back of Beecher there were Beech- 
ers; back of John Quincy Adams there were 
Adamses; back of Astor were Astors, and so of 
the Vanderbilts, but there were no Parkers back 
of Joseph Parker. In the item of success he was 
his own ancestor, as were Abraham Lincoln and 
Daniel Webster. 

I do not think his success was due to his man- 
nerism, his sensationalism, his humor or dramatic 
power. These elements take for a while, but they 
do not last a half century. 

I would say the secret of his success was, first 
of all, he preached a pure gospel in his own indi- 
vidual way and ever honored the Book of God. 
He kept himself full and strong with the fulness 



192 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

of the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus Christ 
and his atoning blood. 'The Old Book, there is 
none like it," was his motto. 

He says: "1 have studied the Bible for over 
half a century. I accept the Old Testament as in- 
spired. To me it is a revelation of God and his 
Sovereignty, of the Father and his Providence, of 
the Creator and his Dominion. It is infinitely ma- 
jestic and solemn. Without God, the Holy Ghost, 
it could never have been written. In it I feel the 
breath and see the very finger of God !" He says 
"I am an evangelical preacher. I want the evan- 
gelical doctrine spoken in the pulpit so strongly 
that if the man who comes after me wants to 
tead an ethical essay on a social subject that the 
Congregation of City Temple will rise in their in- 
dignation and leave him to preach to empty seats." 
It is gratifying to know that J. Reginald Camp- 
bell, a young man whom Parker trained, is his 
successor. Again he says : "I am more and more 
convinced that every sermon should draw its 
whole strength from the cross of Christ. We 
preach it best when we feel it most." 

On preaching old sermcns he says, "Nothing 
grows old so soon as a sermon. I never preach an 
old sermon. I do not hesitate, however, to repeat 
a new one several times." 



JOSEPH PARKER. 193 

Another point, Dr. Parker was a power because 
he was a growing preacher. There is a vast dif- 
ference between his early sermons and his later 
ones. A critic once said of Spurgeon that he 
never excelled the sermons he preached at twenty- 
one. But Parker grew in mental grasp and spiri- 
tual power with the years. Again, Parker placed 
great stress upon his physical manhood. Beecher 
went once to a phrenologist to have his head 
charted. The first exclamation was: "My! what 
a splendid animal." Parker was also a typical an- 
imal. He appreciated the necessity of good health 
for a minister. For years he walked to the church 
from his home and took a bath just before enter- 
ing the pulpit. He was so careful of his voice 
that he refused to speak to any one just before 
preaching. These were eccentricities, but they 
added to his strength and power as a preacher. 
Large avoirdupois, strong heart beats, full circula- 
tion accounted for the fact that age and decay 
were never associated with him after fifty years of 
ministerial, editorial and platform work. Again 
Dr. Parker was a success because of his un- 
bounded enthusiasm in his work. He put his 
whole soul into it. It is said of Angelo that when 
he was filled with the spirit of his art, that he fairly 
threw himself upon his marble and smote it with 
the fury of an enraged mad-man. It seemed that 
IS 



194 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

he would destroy the whole work. The only thing 
that saved it was the fact that the fiery hand was 
controlled by a will that knew when and where to 
strike. Such was Joseph Parker in the pulpit. 
His enthusiasm was unbounded. He struck right 
and left, dramatic, perhaps stagey, forceful at 
times, but always strong, severe, powerful. 

One of the triumphs of his later life was his 
great speech during the Queen's Jubilee. No one 
spoke the praises of the Queen more large-heart- 
edly than he, and no one ever set before the 
Queen the unvarnished truth as he did. After 
speaking words of unbounded praise of her, and 
of his love and loyalty, he was faithful to remem- 
ber his church and his religious belief. Said he; 
"I am aware that our Queen has never been in 
an English-dissenting chapel; that she never 
heard an English-dissenting preacher, and I want 
to say something now that she will hear. These 
men have helped to make the British Nation and 
have extended its dominion, and they have been 
allowed to live and toil and contribute unrecog- 
nized by her Majesty as though they were not. 
We owe much to the Queen, but the Queen owes 
infinitely more to us." 

He closed the illustrious speech by saying: 
"Let her Majesty relinquish titles which are not 
in the power of man to confer, and let her close 



JOSEPH PARKER. 195 

her splendid ireign by restoring to God the titles, 
"Head of the Church" and "Defender of the 
Faith/' If these titles must be claimed by an im- 
pious usurper, leave them to the Pope of Rome, 
who from the crown of his head to the sole of his 
feet is officially a lie." 

That was indeed an act of heroism. A Knox, a 
Luther, an Elijah in the 20th Century. When he 
finished the speech the audience rose in a body 
and literally went wild with shouts of applause. 

The highest source of Parker's power was the 
great love he bore to Jesus Christ. His master 
passion was his love to God, the Son. He heard a 
preacher once say that Christ was a founder of re- 
ligion as was Confucius, Buddha, or Zoroaster; 
he said with deep feeling, "I cannot listen to such 
words ; it pains me that miy Lord should be spoken 
about in such a way. Jesus stands alone, unique ; 
he transcends all human classification." Rever- 
ence, love, fidelity and devotion to God the Son 
was the supreme source of his power. His con- 
stant prayer, the one ever on his lips, "Jesus be 
near me, near me, very neajr me, near me all the 
time; speak thou through me." 



CHARLES HADDEN SPUKGEON. 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 

An object lesson in prayer and work. 



Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. 
Louisville, Kentucky, 
December 1. 1905. 






XV. 
CHAKLES HADDEN SPUKGEON. 

Young men, I rejoice with you in the high priv- 
ileges enjoyed here. Few memories are so prec- 
ious to me as those that cling about the Seminary 
and none are of more value. It was here my soul 
was stirred by Dr. John A. Broadus to love and 
value biography. 

Through Biography we may place ourselves in 
close contact with the noblest of earth. The man 
who possesses qualities that inspire pure living, 
right thinking, and earnest endeavor we ought to 
know. 

More portraits of Christ were painted on hu- 
man hearts by Charles Hadden Spurgeon than by 
any man since Paul. 

Before he reached his twenty second year his 
congregations on many occasions numbered from 
twelve to twenty thousand. 

Although he bore no degree, his publications 
bear unquestioned evidence of scholarship. As 
an editor his reviews of books reveal wide sweep 
of reading. His keen analytical mind sifted truth, 
separating grain from chafl. As a general he 
ranked with his contemporary, Moltke. His 
early London church of two hundred members 

199 



200 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

was the nucleus of the great army he marshalled 
to fight the battles of his King. Every convert 
captive was enlisted in the ranks of his well or- 
ganized battalions. 

Spurgeon's ancestors for generations were of a 
religious, independent spirit. Some of them were 
imprisoned for religious convictions. His father 
and grandfather were "independent" preachers. 

When fourteen months old his mother being in 
delicate health he was sent to his grandfather at 
Stambourne where he remained eight years. Dur- 
ing these formative years his environs were fav- 
orable to the development of character. He was 
a favorite of his grand-father who w r as a strong 
personality, a pastor of one church 54 years. 

The old Manse was delightfully located midst 
beautiful natural scenery. Here Charles early 
learned and loved to read and his scholarly grand- 
father gave him opportunity to gratify his taste. 

He soon learned to love the stories of the Bible. 
At the age of five he read Pilgrim's Progress 
which influenced his whole life. 

His indulgent grand-parents allowed him to 
roam at will over the premises. He wandered in 
the pastures, waded in the clear running brooks 
that played fantastic tricks about his feet. He 
laughingly chattered to the mosses and ferns 
which laced the banks. He eagerly sought pebbles 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 201 

which his imagination magnified into gems. 
There were books in these running brooks which 
his young mind unconsciously read. 

When eight he read Scripture at family prayer, 
giving evidence of an enquiring mind by frequent 
questions. On one occasion Rev. Richard Knill 
visited the Spurgeon home. He heard the lad read 
for family prayers, was deeply impressed and spent 
much of his time with the boy. Just before leav- 
ing he took him on his knee and said : "I feel in> 
pressed that this child will preach the gospel to 
thousands and God will bless him with many 
souls. So sure am I of this that when he 
preaches at Roland Hill which I am sure he will 
some day, I want him to promise he will begin 
service with giving out the hymn, 'God moves in 
a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.' ' : 
This prophecy and request was literally fulfilled. 

Charles returned to his parents at Colchester at 
the age of ten where he attended school four 
years. He then spent a year at the agricultural 
college of Maidstone. From there he went to New 
Market where he served as usher to help pay his 
expenses. Here he made a specialty of Greek and 
French. 

When fifteen he became deeply concerned about 
his salvation and passed through a period of 
doubt and distress. He attended service at differ- 



202 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

ent churches trying to get relief. One Sabbath 
morning when at home on vacation his father be- 
ing away filling an appointment, he started to a 
church some distance; on account of a storm he 
stopped in a small primitive Methodist chapel. 
The minister preached from the text "Look unto 
Me and be ye saved.' ' Fixing his eyes on young 
Spurgeon he said : "Young man you are in trou- 
ble. You will never get out till you come to 
Christ.'' Then lifting his thin hands he cried, 
"Look! Look! Look!" The youth looked. 

After his conversion he felt to follow Jesus he 
must be immersed. Having obtained the consent 
of his father who did not baptize by immersion, he 
walked eight miles to Islehem the nearest Baptist 
church where he was received and the following 
day baptized in a small river. 

At sixteen to secure better educational advan- 
tages he went to the great seat of learning, 
Cambridge, where he again engaged as usher. 
He united with the Baptist church of which 
Robert Hall was pastor. He joined the lay- 
preachers association and aided in conducting ser- 
vices in villages near-by. One evening he was 
asked to go with a young man to the hamlet 
of Teversham four miles distant. As they walked 
along Spurgeon said: "I hope you will be blessed 
in your sermon tonight." "Why," answered his 
friend, "I never preached in my life. You must 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 203 

preach if there is to be any preaching." Here in 
an humble cottage Spurgeon preached his first 
sermon at the age of sixteen. 

His name soon become known and the Baptist 
church at Waterbeach (a village of thirteen hun- 
dred) called him as pastor. He accepted, the sal- 
ary one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year, 
and walked from Cambridge, a distance of five 
miles, every Sunday morning. The membership 
was forty which under his pastorate soon in- 
creased to one hundred. His salary was increased 
to two hundred and fifty dollars. He then re- 
moved to the village and gave his whole time to 
the work. 

December 1853 he received a letter from the 
deacons of New Park Street Church, London, re- 
questing him to come and preach for them. In re- 
ply he wrote : "The letter is certainly intended for 
some one else as I am only nineteen and not quali- 
fied to fill a London pulpit." In answer they wrote 
him they had made no mistake and asked him to 
name a Sabbath that he would come. He went. 
The congregation in the morning numbered about 
one hundred. In the evening it was larger and the 
four following Sundays the church was filled with 
eager listeners. 

Shortly after returning to Waterbeach he re- 
ceived a call from the London church at a salary 
of seven hundred and fifty dollars, per annum. 



204 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

He declined to accept for a longer time than 
three months, stating that at the end of that time 
the church could know if he would be useful as 
pastor ; if not he could withdraw with less embar- 
rassment to both the church and himself. His 
terms were accepted and he began the pastorate 
which continued till his death. 

At the end of the three months he was unani- 
mously called although at first a good minority had 
voted against him. The Chapel seated eleven 
hundred. It had been a great and powerful church 
under the pastorate of Dr. Rippon with a member- 
ship sufficient to fill every pew. When Spurgeon 
preached his first sermon in this pulpit the mem- 
bership was less than two hundred and less than 
one hundred were present. Within six months the 
Chapel could not hold the congregation. In less 
than one year the rear wall was removed and the 
seating capacity increased to eighteen hundred. 
While the enlargement was under way the congre- 
gation secured Exeter Hall, the building used the 
past summer by the Baptist World Congress, with 
a seating capacity of three thousand. This was in- 
adequate to hold the crowds that gathered to hear 
the young preacher deliver his burning messages. 
The throng attracted the attention of the press 
which spoke lightly of the country-boy preacher. 
He was the subject for many caricatures which 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON 205 

only whetted the desire of the multitude to hear 
him. They heard a man who was master of Anglo 
Saxon. He did not preach about the drift of cur- 
rent theological thought, nor draw a parallel be- 
tween Paul's Epistles and the dialectics of Aris- 
totle. He had no literary or professional ambition 
to gratify. He used the simple English of 
Bunyan. He spoke directly to the soul and talked 
to each of his hearers as if the two were alone 
with God. 

On closing one of his sermons to an immense 
audience he used these words : "Will you accept 
Christ?" "I will think about it." "That is not the 
question," "Will you accept Christ?" "I will go 
home and pray." "No, that is not the question." 
"Will you accept Christ ?" "I will leave off swear- 
ing." "No, that is not the question." "Will you ac- 
cept Christ ?" As he pressed the question it seemed 
that no one in the great audience could avoid de- 
ciding then and there the issue of eternity. 

Spurgeon seldom repeated in sermon or prayer. 
He made a close and constant study of the Bible. 
He regarded it a book not to be read as a task, but 
to be enjoyed, believed, obeyed. It was his coun- 
selor in perplexity, his solace in trial. When he 
read Scripture in public the ancient disappeared. 
It became a book of to-day, every verse instinct 
with life, his running comments adding interest 
to every sentence. 



206 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

His voice was one of the most wonderful ever 
given a public speaker. His prayers were lofty sen- 
timents expressed in simple language. He carried 
the devotions of the closet into the pulpit lifting 
the souls of multitudes to the very gates of heaven. 
His prayers were usually pleadings for more of 
the love of God. 

The growing congregations became too large for 
Exeter Hall and the new Music Hall just complet- 
ed, seating six thousand, was secured. It was fill- 
ed. It was apparent before the enlargement of its 
Chapel was completed that Park Street church 
must provide a larger building. So the Metropoli- 
tan Tabernacle with a seating capacity of six 
thousand was erected at a cost of one hundred and 
fifty five thousand dollars. 

The money to erect this building was raised 
through the personal efforts of Spurgeon — no, not 
his personal efforts unless we count prayers as ef- 
forts. Praying more than preaching gave Spur- 
geon what he received and made him what he was. 
Those who are looking for the secret of his power 
will find it in his constant communion with Jesus. 
When asked the secret of his power he replied. 
"For more than twenty years there have not been 
fifteen minutes of my waking moments that I have 
not been conscious of the presence of Jesus. 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 2o7 

A few months ago I met Evan Roberts in the 
Welch mountains. I asked him to give me in a 
sentence the secret of his power with God and 
man. He thought a moment and replied: "The 
conscious presence of Jesus." My young friends 
of the ministry if I have a message for you it is 
that you may cultivate the presence of Christ and 
let your life emphasize communion with him in 
prayer. Remember, the first deacons were chosen 
that the Apostles might have more time to pray. 

The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a monument to 
prayer. The funds that came to pay for its con- 
struction were in answer to prayer. 

A man from Bristol who had never seen Spur- 
geon sent him twenty thousand dollars. As the 
work progressed the workmen were paid every 
week. Frequently there were no funds in hand, 
but there was not a moment's hesitation in going 
forward and when completed there was not a dol- 
lar of indebtedness. 

The first service in the Tabernacle was a prayer 
meeting on Monday morning at seven o'clock at- 
tended by more than a thousand. After this it was 
filled each Sabbath. Frequently the regular attend- 
ants were requested to remain away to enable 
others to hear the gospel. 

During Spurgeon's pastorate twenty thousand 
were added to the church, eight thousand by letter 
and twelve thousand by experience and baptism. 



208 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

The audience included all classes from all coun- 
tries of the world. Shaftsbury, one of the greatest 
spirits of any age, was of the number ; also Glad- 
stone. On the diary of Garfield was found this 
entry made on the day he was there, "God bless 
Spurgeon. He is helping to work out the problem 
of civil and religious freedom of England in a way 
that he knows not of." 

Among those converted at the almost continuous 
revivals which began with his earliest labors in 
London were several young men called to preach. 
They were usually poorly educated and without 
means. Spurgeon feeling the existing colleges al- 
lowed the literary to prevail over the spiritual, 
opened a pastors college with one student and one 
teacher. The number of students increased and 
more teachers were employed. The expenses were 
about four thousand dollars a year which he per- 
sonally paid. The civil war in the United States 
affecting the sale of his books cut off the revenue 
he was using to support the college and he resort- 
ed as usual to prayer. He received notices from 
one of the banks that one thousand dollars had 
been placed to his credit for the use of the pastors 
college. This was followed by many other thous- 
ands which resulted in the erection of a building at 
a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars free of debt. 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 209 

The greatest teacher of this college was Spur- 
geon, his lectures, inspiration, kindness, encour- 
agement, example. 

My beloved teacher, John A. Broadus, said to 
the students one day : "Any man can do the work 
of one person. The great man is the one who can 
enlist others and thus multiply himself." This col- 
lege was one of Spurgeon's ways of multiplying 
himself. 1 say it with reverence; through this col- 
lege Spurgeon multiplied himself as the Master 
repeated himself in the Apostles. 

In 1892 this college had six hundred and thirty 
preachers in the field. They meet once a year at 
the college, remaining one week renewing friend- 
ships, exchanging experiences, and planning for 
the Kingdom. Would it not be well for all of us 
seminary boys to meet here in this dear old college 
with its hallowed associations at least once in 
every five years? 

Spurgeon mentioned in his magazine, the 
"Sword and Trowel," the need of a home for or- 
phan boys, not simply to provide them a home but 
to educate and turn their young lives into channels 
of usefulness and above all lead them to Christ, 
and for this he began to pray. Within a few days 
the knocker is heard. 'Tis the alarm of the morn- 
ing postman. He brings a letter from an unknown 
14 



210 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

lady containing a check for one hundred thousand 
dollars for the orphans home with the condition 
that he would take charge of it. 

This he set aside as a start of an endowment, 
and through his magazine and church he presented 
the claims of the orphan boys. His church engag- 
ed in a season of prayer that God would move men 
to provide the means. The money came in sums 
of one dollar to twenty-five thousand. Coming 
out of the Tabernacle a man at the door handed 
him an envelope containing ten thousand dollars. 
The same day another called at his home leaving 
five thousand, neither giving his name. A pros- 
perous merchant gave his wife twenty-five hund- 
red dollars on her silver wedding anniversary. She 
sent the whole to Spurgeon for the orphans home. 
The day the corner stone was laid he received ten 
thousand dollars through the mail; a few days 
later from an unknown source five thousand for 
the orphans and five thousand for the pastors col- 
lege. 

The Baptists of England sent him eight thous- 
and dollars as testimonial of their love and esteem. 
This he refused to accept for himself but turned it 
over to the orphans home. 

The orphanage was soon completed and two 
hundred and fifty boys were being clothed, fed and 
educated. Later he suggested in his magazine a 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 211 

similar home for orphan girls. This suggestion 
had a like experience and soon a home for two 
hundred and fifty girls was provided. 

The cost of maintaining these two homes is fifty 
thousand dollars annually, most of which is pro- 
vided from the income of the endowment. On one 
occasion a visitor entering the gate to the home, 
Spurgeon pointed to the inscription above the en- 
trance and said : "That is our bank." The words 
were : "The Lord will provide." When looking at 
this inscription a few months ago I could but ex- 
claim, the Lord has provided, for the home is to- 
day larger and more prosperous than when Spur- 
geon was translated, fourteen years ago. 

The colportage association was started in 1875 
with five men in the field. At his death there were 
eighty four. The association up to that time had 
sold six hundred thousand Bibles, one million re- 
ligious books and distributed fifty million tracts. 

Through the usual channels funds were raised 
to build an alms house and an endowment suffici- 
ent to take care of twenty needy widows of de- 
ceased church members and a ragged school for 
four hundred children of poverty. 

When Spurgeon died his church had twenty- 
three missions in London with a membership of 
three thousand seven hundred. The membership of 



212 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

the Tabernacle was five thousand three hundred; 
a total of nine thousand with eight thousand Sun- 
day school scholars. 

There were sixty six organizations in his church 
originated and directed by his wonderful adminis- 
trative genius. 

As to Spurgeon's scholarship there seems to be 
a misconception. This advertisement appeared in 
one of the newspapers of Cambridge : "No. 60 Up- 
per Park street. Mr. C. H. Spurgeon begs to in- 
form his many friends that after Christmas he will 
take six or seven young men as day pupils. He 
will teach Arithmetic, Algebra,. Geometry, Men- 
suration, Grammar, Composition, Ancient and 
Modern History, Astronomy, Scripture, Drawing, 
Latin and the elements of Greek and French; 
terms five pounds per annum." 

A modest young man of eighteen would not in- 
sert such an advertisement in a university town 
unless he was a well advanced scholar. 

On one occasion an English judge was discuss- 
ing Spurgeon with an associate Justice and some 
members of the bar, when one of them stated that 
Spurgeon had comparatively no education. This 
statement provoked some discussion. The Judge 
said: "We will settle the question; we will have a 
dinner with Spurgeon as one of our guests and 
without his knowledge we will discuss subjects 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 213 

that require extensive information in many realms 
and appeal to him to settle our dispute." Some ob- 
jected stating it would be cruel to subject him to 
the humiliation this would involve. These scruples 
were overcome and the dinner arranged. Said the 
Judge: "The discussion covered a wide field in 
science and literature. In every instance Spurgeon 
was not only familiar with the subject, but gave 
the different writer's views followed by his own 
clear analysis of the principles involved." At the 
next meeting Spurgeon was declared the best edu- 
cated man at the banquet. 

Like Gladstone and our president, Roosevelt, 
Spurgeon's capacity for reading was enormous. 
He would master several volumes at a sitting, tak- 
ing in a page at a glance. He made it a rule to 
read each week five or six of the hardest books, he 
said "to rub his mind against the strongest." 

No author was more thorough in research and 
few more prolific in number of books produced. 
In preparing the "Treasury of David" he read 
every commentary published on the Psalms, and 
sent his secretary to the British museum to trans- 
cribe all manuscripts relating to David. These 
volumes reached a circulation of one hundred and 
twenty thousand. "John Plowman's Talks to 
Plain People," a storehouse of wit and wisdom 
out-ranking our Franklin's "Poor Richard," had 



2i 4 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

a sale of four hundred and fifty thousand. 
"Salt Cellars/' two volumes containing a proverb 
for every day for twenty years, reached a sale 
of one hundred and fifty thousand. "Lectures to 
My Students," filled with wise counsel to young 
ministers, sparkles with wit and shines with piety. 
His book "Commenting and Commentaries," em- 
braces brief notes on fourteen hundred commenta- 
tors. The reading required to enable him to com- 
ment on the merit or demerits of all these staggers 
the mind. 

He prepared a hymn book for his church. It 
contained of his own production fourteen psalms 
and ten hymns. He published a number of small 
volumes that reached a wide circulation. His roy- 
alty on books the last ten years of his life was 
fifty thousand dollars annually. 

Within a few months after going to London he 
began to have his sermons published. They were 
sold at a penny each. The first year he published 
twelve. After this, one each week, the regular cir- 
culation being twenty-five thousand, but many 
reached one hundred thousand and a few of them 
a quarter million. In many cases these sermons 
were read in pulpits without pastors. Their dis- 
tribution circled the earth. A number were pub- 
lished in the New York Independent." For four- 
teen years one appeared each week in the "Christ- 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 215 

ian Herald." Forty volumes of his sermons were 
bound, the sales exceeding four hundred thousand. 
Many of them were translated in twenty lang- 
uages. Two thousand of his sermons were pub- 
lished and at his death over a thousand were in 
the hands of his publishers that had not gone to 
press. These are still appearing in the English 
and American papers. 

In 1865 he began to publish a magazine, "The 
Sword and Trowel." In a few years it had a large 
circulation although the price was three dollars 
per annum. In this publication he showed marked 
ability as an editor and critic. The editorials were 
clear-cut and revealed familiarity with current 
thought. His review of books covered a wide 
field. Of Beecher's sermons he says: "Beecher 
professedly deviates from the old standard of or- 
thodoxy, and in the same proportion, we think, 
from truth. As an improvement on the theology 
of the Puritan Fathers his teachings will be reject- 
ed by the best men of this and every other age. 
Lessons of moral wisdom and practical piety may 
be gathered from these sermons; but for sound 
doctrine we must look elsewhere. It is a lawful 
book if a man use it lawfully." Force is added to 
this comment when it is remembered that Beecher 
and Spurgeon were warm friends. 



216 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Commenting on the many poetic effusions 
which sought a place in his magazine he says : 
"We do not know how newspapers were conduct- 
ed in that ancient time but during some recent ex- 
cavations in Assyria a poem, "The Silver Moon/' 
was dug up. It was engraved on a tile. Close be- 
side it was a large battered club and part of a hu- 
man skull. You may draw your own conclusion. 
We mention this as a warning to many small 
poets who send us verses. Happily we have no 
club and have a gentle temper, but really we are 
tried to the boiling point by the poetic coals that 
are heaped on our head.''' 

When asked to review 'Tngersoll Answered" he 
replied : ''We neither care for Ingersoll nor the re- 
ply to him; there is enough to do in England 
with cutting our own brambles; nine out of ten 
of our people know nothing of this American 
briar and there is no need they should." 

When twenty-two he was married to Susannah 
Thompson, of London, a charming woman, cultur- 
ed and pious. This union was blest with two sons 
(twins) Thomas and Charles, both preachers. 
Thomas succeeded to his father's pastorate. I 
heard him in the Tabernacle in 1895, 1900 and 
1905. He is above the average preacher but has 
not the genius of his distinguished father. 



CHARLES HADDEN SPURGEON. 2i7 

Soon after Spurgeon married he purchased a 
modest home in which he lived happily until 1880 
when he disposed of it and purchased Westwood, 
one of the most elegant homes in the suburbs of 
London. The grounds embraced thirty acres 
which he transformed into an ideal park. His col- 
lection of plants and flowers was among the rarest 
in England. He gratified his taste for art by 
adorning the walls of his spacious mansion with 
the best from the brush of the great masters, af- 
fording a rare treat for his many visitors. Most 
of his time was spent in his library and study. His 
collection of books was one of the most valuable 
in Great Britain and I am gratified to say seven 
thousand volumes of this fine collection have been 
purchased and are enroute to William Jewell col- 
lege of Missouri. 

During the last years of Spurgeon' s life he 
was in poor health and spent a portion of his win- 
ters at Menton in Southern France where he 
died at the age of 58. 

As a preacher the name of Spurgeon is the most 
illustrious in the records of a thousand years. For 
a third of a century he stood preeminently above 
his contemporaries, and has not lost his high place 
in the minds of the Christian world. The unveiling 
of his statue at the Baptist World Congress was 
the high tide of that great meeting of climaxes. 



218THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

As a writer of books he ranks with distin- 
guished literary men. Yet his books are not the 
only tablets that perpetuate his memory. The great 
shafts which stand above all others of his life's 
work are the monuments of his organizing and 
administrative ability. The Metropolitan Taber- 
nacle is the largest Protestant church in the world, 
a church of organized activity without a parallel. 
The Pastors College, a creation of his brain, in the 
work of winning souls is in a class alone. 

The Orphanage takes every few years five 
hundred young lives from the chill of penury and 
the path of vice, clothes, feeds and educates, and 
turns their young lives into channels of virtue and 
usefulness. 

In Spurgeon was a remarkable combination of 
gifts. A mind that absorbed knowledge from men, 
from books, from nature. An eye that saw every- 
thing within its range. A memory that stored and 
retained subject to call. A voice musical, majestic, 
adding weight to his words. A practical com- 
mon sense in doing things sacred and secular. A 
transparent honesty that made him trusted by all. 
A great heart on fire with love for God and the 
souls of men. 

My friends, you may leave a biography that will 
receive the smile of God and the favor of men, if 
you will make the distinctive features of Spur- 
geon's life, prayer and work, yours. 



W. POPE YEAMAN 



W. POPE YEAMAN. 

Preacher, Statesman, Orator, Friend. 



This appreciation was written at the request of Dr. Maple 
for insertion in his biography of Dr. Teaman. 



XVI. 

W. POPE YEAMAN. 

On the pages of Missouri Baptist history no 
name outranks "W. Pope Yeaman." 

His great spirit ever vibrated to the touch 
of love, sympathy, honor and justice. 

In leaving the profession of the law in an- 
swer to a call to the ministry, he put aside the 
promise of wealth and political preferment, 
which his titanic intellect, coupled with his bril- 
liant powers of oratory, assured him. His study 
and practice of law fostered patriotism which is 
a passion of lofty natures. His speeches on po- 
litical issues ranked with those of Clay and Web- 
ster. 

After entering the ministry his love of coun- 
try prompted him to offer for congress. It 
was my privilege to be a delegate to the nom- 
inating convention. It was fortunate for the 
Baptists of Missouri that the honor was given 
to another. He was a patriot and statesman, 
not a politician. 

In matters of state and religion he thought 
in continents, and often required new words 
to express his ideas, which he coined while 
speaking. These created words were distinct- 
ively Yeamanic. 

221 



222 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

As a preacher the thoughts of his great ana- 
lytical mind, which - found expression in a pow- 
erful eloquence, added largely to the dignity 
and strength of the Baptist denomination. 

Missouri Baptists are indebted to him 
largely for their present well organized mis- 
sionary work. He originated and executed 
the plans which brought order out of chaos, 
under the most unfavorable conditions. 

But it as a friend I speak of Dr. Yeaman, his 
uplift was invaluable to me. 

His dignified bearing made him seem dis- 
tant to those who did not know him well, "But 
to those that sought him, sweet as summer." 

What a joy was the personal friendship of 
this man of God. When I grasped his strong 
hand, I could feel the generous beat of his 
noble heart thrilling my soul with the thought 
that I had such a friend. 

In that large courtly body was carried a 
heart as warm and tender as ever moved amid 
the conflicts of time. 

His inspiring influence came into my young 
life and encouraged me to answer the call of 
God to preach the gospel. His counsel was 
the deciding force that led me to the theologi- 
cal seminary at Louisville. When the course 
was completed he suggested the capital ot 
Missouri as my first pastorate. 



W. POPE YEAMAN. 223 

Ten years later he wrote me that it had long 
been his desire that I should become pastor of 
the church in St. Louis which he had founded 
— Delmar Avenue Baptist Church. He affec- 
tionately called it his child. Only a few weeks 
before he was translated, he preached from its 
pulpit one of the most eloquent sermons of his 
life. On this occasion he said it was the greatest 
joy of his life, to see realized the vision he had 
when the church was established, the vision 
of Delmar church becoming a mighty power 
for the kingdom of God. Said he: "This 
church is the proudest monument of my life." 

Dr. Yeaman is now a citizen of Heaven, yet 
his hallowed and forceful influence still lives 
on earth, not only in the hearts of his family 
and friends, and the membership of the church 
he founded, but the Baptists of Missouri will 
feel the uplift of his life and labors for centuries. 



E. W. STEPHENS. 



15 



E. W. STEPHENS. 



Nomination for 

President Southern Baptist Convention. 

Kansas Citt, Mo., 

May 12. 1905. 



XVII. 
E. W. STEPHENS. 

When planning to advance a great cause, 
wise men choose as leader one whose name em- 
bodies the spirit of the enterprise. 

Into one's name are garnered the treasures 
of his soul. The name summarizes the char- 
acter; it epitomizes the life. 

In the name of E. W. Stephens are bound the 
qualities, the traits, the experiences and 
achievements which make it preeminently the 
name to place at the head of the Southern Bap- 
tist Convention. 

The name of E. W. Stephens stands for bus- 
iness success, for tact, for integrity, industry 
and practical piety. It stands for character, 
Christian character; it stands for education, 
it stands for Baptist principles and denomin- 
ational loyalty; it stands for the ideal home 
and the exaltation of the family; it stands for 
progress, it stands for leadership. 

When other states of the Southern Baptist 
Convention come to know E. W. Stephens as 
Missouri knows him, they will rejoice in the 
day that made him president. 

I speak at close range; born and reared in 
the same county, having intimate and confiden- 

227 



228 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

tial relations with him for a third of a cen- 
tury, social, political, financial and religious, 
I have found him always true ; loyal in friend- 
ship, patriotic in politics, clean in business, 
faithful in religion. 

Baptists of Missouri have availed themselves 
of his splendid character and capacity. He is 
president of the board of our college for young 
women, President of our Home and Foreign 
Mission board, Moderator of the General As- 
sociation of Missouri Baptists. In all these 
positions he has honored the office which hon- 
ored him. One's past is a forecast of his fu- 
ture. He would honor the presidency of this 
convention. 

Never has the time been so ripe in the histo- 
ry of Southern Baptists for larger visions of 
greater things. Her resources have never 
been so vast, and the world never so keenly 
alive to an interest in the spiritual. 

In E. W. Stephens we have a leader with an 
increasing vision, one whose outreach and 
upreach will widen the horizon of Southern 
Baptists; one whose practical sagacity will 
give weight and momentum to all our move- 
ments in Home and Foreign Fields. 

He is a gentleman, the embodiment of gen- 
tleness, dignity and justice. He is a clear 
thinker, a cogent writer, a forceful speaker. 



E. W. STEPHENS. 229 

As a parliamentarian he is the peer of Boyce 
and Mell. His myriad-minded grasp of Bap- 
tist interests is not bounded by state lines but 
is as broad as the scope of this convention. 

Few men have been so highly favored as 
E. W. Stephens, and none have used his fa- 
vors more worthily. Though blest with a dis- 
tinguished parentage, he did not depend on his 
father's name, but carved one for himself. His 
honored father did not burden his son with his 
wealth but turned it into channels of philan- 
thropy, giving a large portion to endow Ste- 
phens College, our state Baptist school for 
young women. The father loved his only son 
too well to hamper him with riches, but sought 
that he should have habits of industry, thrift 
and the priceless possession of Christian man- 
hood. 

Young Stephens chose Journalism as his 
profession and established a country newspa- 
per. Under his guiding hand "The Columbia 
Missouri Herald" is to-day a marvel of me- 
chanical perfection and journalistic achieve- 
ment, the most influential weekly in the 
West. Through his Journal he has advanced 
the material interests of his town, county and 
state, and shaped political policies, but these 
and all other interests he made subservient to 
religion. 



2 3 o THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

He has built up the largest law-book pub- 
lishing house in the West, a monument to his 
business acumen and organizing power. 

Though urged to hold political office he per- 
sistently refused, but always responded to the 
call of religion. 

Having been president of the Press Asso- 
ciation of the state of Missouri and president 
of the Editorial Association of the United 
States, he is in touch with that mighty agency 
the "Press" which is saturating the world with 
pulsating thought. 

He has incorporated his large business inter- 
ests, entrusting the details to younger men in 
whom he has grafted his spirit and methods, 
thus enabling him to give more time and 
thought to religious work. 

The Southern Baptist Convention is the 
largest representative body of Baptists on 
earth. Seven-eighths of the Baptists of the 
world are in America. Three-fourths of these 
live within the territory of the Southern Bap- 
tist Convention. 

The position of President of this Convention 
is the highest honor within the gift of the Bap- 
tists of the world. By nature, grace and ex- 
perience God has prepared Edwin Washing- 
ton Stephens for this lofty place. 






SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LOUISIANA 
PURCHASE. 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND 
PROTESTANTISM. 



May Anniversaries. 
Buffalo, N. Y., 
May 21, 1903. 



XVIII. 

LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND 
PROTESTANTISM. 

Two hundred twenty-two years ago, an edu- 
cated, ambitious, travelworn explorer, after 
having paddled the full length of the Missis- 
sippi River, reached the Gulf of Mexico. He 
immediately stepped ashore, planted a cross, 
fired three volleys from a few old rusty flint- 
lock muskets, and with shouts of "Long live 
the King," took possession of a vast territory 
in the name of Louis XIV. In honor of his 
king who was then the most powerful monarch 
on earth, LaSalle called that unknown, un- 
measured region "Louisiana." 

Just at that time the Huguenots were being 
driven out of France because they were 
Protestants and believed in religious liberty. 
Would they not sail across the seas to the new- 
ly discovered Louisiana and there set up ban- 
ners of religious and political freedom? Nay, — 
even that western wilderness had no hospital- 
ity for Protestants, for the door of religious 
freedom was as firmly closed in New France 
as in Old France. 

233 



234 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

After holding the Louisiana Territory for 
eighty years France sold it to Spain. Spain 
now lay along the entire south and west of 
the Thirteen Colonies like a huge whale. Her 
rule in America at that time extended from the 
Lake of the Woods to the Gulf, — including 
what is now Florida, Texas, Mexico, Califor- 
nia, as well as the twelve states and two territories 
which have been carved out of Louisiana. 
Spain was then sovereign over a larger domain 
in America than was England, and if it be pos- 
sible, was more intolerant to Protestantism 
than was France. 

For forty years Louisiana belonged to Spain, 
until 1801 when France regained the territory 
by granting Spain a political favor. Two years 
later, on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1803, Na- 
poleon Bonaparte was attending an Easter 
Service in Notre Dame Cathedral in the city 
of Paris. But his great mind was not contem- 
plating the triumphs and glories of the risen 
Redeemer, nor was his heart rejoicing in the 
far reaching consequential effect on human joy 
and destiny which that day and hour was cele- 
brating. In fact his mind was ill at ease. In- 
stead of having visions of the risen Savior, 
his thoughts were on England's hostile fleet 
now sailing toward his American possessions. 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE— RELIGION. 235 

As he sat listless, under the rapturous tones 
of that great organ of "Our Lady," pealing 
forth glad notes of Easter joy a bran new idea 
took possession of him. "I will sell Louisiana 
to the United States for France can not cope 
with England's Navy." He immediately left 
the church, sent for the members of his cabi- 
net, and put before them his newly formed 
plan and purpose. Robert Livingston, then 
United States minister to France, was hur- 
riedly sent for. James Monroe at that time 
was enroute to France having been sent by 
Jefferson to secure free navigation of the 
Mississippi River, and such territory at New 
Orleans as would make the desired privilege 
useful. 

Thomas Jefferson did not conceive theideaof 
buying Louisiana, nor did any other Ameri- 
can, but that thought was born in Jehovah's 
mind and God first impressed it on Napoleon's 
brain 100 years ago last Easter. 

Twenty days after that memorable Easter 
Sunday, papers were signed by Marbois, Liv- 
ingston and Monroe, and Louisiana was ours — 
ours for the insignificant sum of two cents an 
acre. 

April 30, 1803, marks the word's greatest 
stroke of statesmanship, a date when an Empire 



236 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

almost as large as all Continental Europe, larger 
by fifty-five thousand square miles than the Thir- 
teen Original States, passed from an intolerant 
monarchy to a liberty-loving Republic with- 
out the shedding of one drop of blood, and at 
a price less than many a block in her chief city 
would bring today — fifteen million dollars. 

The dedication of the World's Fair grounds in 
St. Louis, April 30, 1903, by Pres. Roosevelt, 
former Pres. Cleveland, dignitaries of the Fed- 
eral Union; Governors of forty states, sovereign 
diplomatic messengers representing thirty of the 
world's nations, and a magnificent military 
pageant of fifteen thousand troops, was poster- 
ity's emphasis and mark of appreciation of that 
mighty event. 

The Exposition in 1904, to commemorate 
this event, is to be larger in conception, broad- 
er in scope, and superior in educational value 
to all its predecessors. 

Five great epochs since Bethlehem's mir- 
acle! The Resurrection of our Lord, the 
outpouring of the Spirit, the Lutheran Re- 
formation, the Declaration of Independence, 
the Louisiana Purchase. These epochs are 
so many steps in the Divine plan for evangeliz- 
ing the world. Nothing has happened since 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 23? 

Pentecost, save The Reformation and The 
Declaration of American Independence that 
counts so much for the civilization, enlighten- 
ment and uplifting of the world as the Louis- 
iana Purchase. That event is a pivot on 
which this country and the Orient turn. 

If the Mississippi had remained the western 
limit of the new nation, or had the Mason and 
Dixon's line made a chasm in it, the progress 
of humanity and the emancipation of the Ori- 
ent would have been arrested many centuries. 

The full significance of this epochal event 
is just beginning to dawn upon us. It was a 
mighty stride toward national development 
and world wide service. In the first place the 
acquisition of this territory provided for 
Protestants, a new home, a sufficient home, 
an expansive home. That new expansive 
home was an absolute necessity. For at this 
crucial period evangelical Protestantism must 
expand or die. At this time the only coun- 
tries where civil and religious liberty could be 
enjoyed were Great Britain, Scandinavia, The 
Netherlands and western Germany; and even 
in these only in a restricted measure, while in 
all the rest of Europe Protestantism was strict- 



238 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

ly prohibited. And in America, the United 
States, then small, struggling and almost sur- 
rounded by intolerant Romanists, offered the only 
refuge. 

In the nick of time God opened a wide door 
to Protestants. True, religious motives did 
not enter into the sale or purchase of Louis- 
iana." Neither Napoleon nor Jefferson thought 
of God or His kingdom in that momentous 
transaction. But God often uses men who 
think not of Him to work out His plans and 
further His kingdom. 

Think what we were before we bought 
Louisiana! A century ago there was not a 
Protestant church between the Father of 
Waters and the Mighty Pacific. There were 
a few scattered Protestants here and there, but 
they were not permitted to gather together to 
worship except under specified restrictions. 
They were forbidden to ring a bell, perform a 
marriage ceremony, baptize a convert or ob- 
serve the Lord's Supper. Behold what the 
Louisiana Purchase hath wrought for Protes- 
tantism. 

One hundred years ago in that territory 
there were at least one thousand Catholics to 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 239 

every Protestant; now there are six times as 
many Protestants as Catholics. Of the twenty- 
one millions of population between the Great 
River and the Great Ocean there are eighteen 
millions non-Catholic. 

I refer to the entire west because the addi- 
tion of Oregon, Florida, California and Texas 
became an inevitable and logical consequence 
of the Louisiana Purchase. 

One hundred years ago not a single Protes- 
tant Church west of the Mississippi; now there 
are over forty thousand. Baptists were pioneers 
in the Protestant occupation of Louisiana. They 
had the first preachers. And the first houses for 
evangelical worship erected on Louisiana soil were 
Baptist. First there was the voluntary going 
of a few pioneer Baptist preachers, then the 
Triennial Convention sent Peck and Welch. 
A little later the American Baptist Home 
Mission Society began its work; finally the 
Southern Baptist Convention entered the field. 

But to the Home Mission Society, more than 
to any other agency do we owe this marvel- 
ous transformation. This Society has ex- 
pended on the Louisiana Territory for missions 
over two million dollars and has helped to erect 
hundreds of church edifices. Today the so- 



240 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

ciety has in that region over 300 missionaries 
laying solid foundations in new localities, 
building on foundations laid by pioneer pre- 
decessors, and winning thousands to God. 

At the time of the purchase there was on- 
ly one Protestant preacher on Louisiana Ter- 
ritory. John Clark, a Baptist, four years be- 
fore the purchase went down the Mississippi 
alone in a small canoe, paddling his little 
barque by day, camping in the woods at night. 

Among the men to whom Protestants of the 
west and especially Baptists are most indebt- 
ed, John Mason Peck stands perhaps at the 
head. But I should name with him two other 
pioneer preachers whose effective labors 
wrought mightily in making the millions west 
of the Mississippi Protestant, evangelical and 
Baptist. They are James E. Welch and the fer- 
vent spirited Dr. G. J. Johnson. 

Another point. Protestantism in its new 
home has greatly strengthened Protestantism 
all over the world. This western Protestantism 
being intensely vigorous, missionary, aggres- 
sive, and independent has leavened the civil 
and religious thought of the world. Western 
Protestantism has prayed, argued, labored, de- 
bated and fought for political and religious 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 241 

freedom, and its logical consequent, separa- 
tion of Church and State. 

Protestants in this territory, especially Bap- 
tists, have made the world to know that the 
inherent right of man to political liberty is im- 
possible, if the religious conscience is held in 
subordination to ecclesiastical domination. 

Then the Louisiana Purchase has been a 
large factor in the making of the mightiest 
Protestant nation on earth. If Louisiana had 
remained a French Catholic Province there 
is no reason to believe that Spain would have 
relinquished Florida or any of her western 
provinces. So the United States would have re- 
mained one of the smaller nations of the world, 
l a^circumscribed political community, practi- 
cally surrounded by nations of different and 
hostile civil and religious institutions. 

Our national progress and expansion would 
have been checked, and our present position 
as mightiest of, all nations would have been 
impossible. 

Again this purchase not only secured for us 
the most magnificent and resourceful terri- 
tory ever inhabited by man, but it gave to our 
national life, an impulse, an inspiration, a vis- 
ion, a sweep and reach which decided our des- 

16 



242 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

tiny as the world's foremost and most poten- 
tial power. 

Another point: The Louisiana Purchase 
has opened a way to the Pacific ocean and thus 
to Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, China, The Philip- 
pines, the whole Orient. It has made the 
quickest route to the far east by way of the 
west, for traffic, for commerce, for the message 
of salvation. 

Again, who believes that the expansion pol- 
icy of our nation, which was made decisive and 
irrevocable by this masterstroke is at an end? 
Will not Cuba, Mexico and perchance Canada 
some day knock at our door? Instead of the 
United States having a population of six millions 
as under Jefferson, or eighty-five millions as un- 
der Roosevelt, are we not destined to have before 
the 200th anniversary of the Napoleon- Jefferson 
trade, a population of four hundred millions ? 

The highest type of Protestantism stands for 
democracy, for a republican form of govern- 
ment. The Louisiana Purchase made it pos- 
sible for the world's greatest nation to be 
a Protestant Republic, and without this pow- 
erful Protestant nation who believes that there 
would be toleration for Protestants in France, 
Italy, Austria, Spain, or Mexico today? And 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 243 

who does not believe that the United States 
will put an end to Russia's intolerance of the 
Jews? 

This country has not only furnished a refuge 
for the oppressed and persecuted of all lands, 
but this Republic's prestige and power have 
been felt in mitigating the severity of the laws 
in all earth's monarchies. 

The new world across the sea, with liberty 
of conscience as its watchword, has thrilled the 
older nations and electrified them with higher 
conceptions of civil and religious rights. Old 
world monarchies and oligarchies have caught 
the contagion of liberty-loving, manful Amer- 
icanism. 

Strange , isn't it, that the vote to ratify the 
Louisiana Purchase barely passed Congress? 
New England, cultured New England, with 
one exception voted solidly against it. 

Fisher Ames, the brilliant, imaginative ora- 
tor from Boston District, in his speech op- 
posing the ratifying of the Purchase said: "By 
adding an unmeasurable world we rush 
like a comet into infinite space. In our wild 
career we may jostle some other world out of 
its orbit, but we shall, in any event, quench the 
light of our own." True we have jostled other 



244 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

worlds out of their orbits, but the light of our 
own instead of being quenched, is shining on 
with enduring and increasing brilliancy, and 
will continue to do so through the centuries. 

Josiah Quincy, the Massachusetts States- 
man, and President of Harvard, uttered these 
words in 1811 : "The Constitution never was and 
never will be strained to lap over all the west- 
ern wilderness to formi a covering for the in- 
habitants of the Missouri and Red Rivers, the 
wild men of Missouri and the half civilized 
Americans who bask in the sands of the Mis- 
sissippi." I suppose the speaker is one of the 
wild men Josiah Quincy portrayed for he was 
born on the banks of the Missouri and for six 
years has been basking in the sands of the Mis- 
sissippi. 

I heard Grover Cleveland use this sentence 
the other day in his dedicatory speech: "It is 
a solemn thing to belong to a people so favor- 
ed of God/' Yes, God's favor has been upon 
us. His providence has been in every step of 
American progress, expansion and achieve- 
ment, and above all in her unselfish, world- 
wide service along the higher lines of liberty, 
conscience and the spiritual life. 

When we consider that our government was 
founded and builded and governed on distinc- 



LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 245 

live Protestant principles we can but know- 
that God is the author of them. Protestant 
principles have produced a race of heroes 
whose greatest victories have been those of 
peace and whose greatest conquest is yet to 
come, that of evangelizing and saving the 
world. 



EFFECT OF LOUISIANA PURCHASE 
EXPOSITION ON RELIGION. 



THE EFFECT OF THE LOUISIANA PUR- 
CHASE EXPOSITION ON RELIGION. 



XIX. 

EFFECT OF LOUISIANA PURCHASE 
EXPOSITION ON RELIGION. 

We understand the present, which is the 
fruit of the past and the germ of the future, by 
a study of the effect of past events. A study 
of the past gives a storehouse of wisdom from 
which to draw r in forming our opinion of the 
influence of events of the present on the future. 
History of the past exhibits the steady pro- 
gress of the Christian religion, assuring contin- 
ued advancement and the ultimate triumph of 
our system of education. His disciples have 
Christ furnish the elements on which are built 
our system of education. His disciples have 
founded virtually all of our great institutions 
of learning. 

Nothing is so hard for man as reflection, and 
the essential destiny of the soul is to see, to 
know, to reflect. To reflect is one of the toils 
of life, a means of arriving, a passage by which 
to reach its true destiny. 

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was a 
world university of the highest order, the wid- 
est scope. Although by reason of previously 
acquired knowledge and thought training ad- 
vanced students could see and gather more 

249 



250 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

from the grouped illustrations, representing 
the progress of the world in every field, yet 
this school was an incalculable advantage to 
the multitude in the intermediate and primary 
classes. They were lifted to a higher plane of 
thought, advanced in knowledge of men and 
things, which placed them on an elevation giv- 
ing them a new and broader view of life and 
their relation to God. This great university 
gave shape and reality to the dim ideals of the 
masses. Their ideals were transformed into 
facts, became a part of their being, a founda- 
tion for enlarged mental and spiritual struc- 
ture ; they could read a volume at a glance ; 
they had the encyclopedia of the world with 
every page alive with illustrations ; the fruit- 
age of the world's work — in agriculture, horti- 
culture, mechanism, manufacture, science, art, 
history, all condensed in one great panorama — 
a feast for the mind, a nourishment for the 
soul. 

In the Louisiana Purchase neither Napoleon 
nor Jefferson, who played such important 
parts in the transaction, realized or conceived 
that the guiding hand of Jehovah was using 
them as instruments to extend the glories of 
His kingdom. Nevertheless the transfer of 



EFFECT OF LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 251 

the domain of the Louisiana Purchase was a 
consequential event in the advancement of a 
purpose too great for finite minds. 

So the promoters of this monumental mile 
post in the world's progress did not in its con- 
ception or management have in mind the 
thought of making it a distinct means of ex- 
tending the reign of Christ in human hearts. 
They treated it as an educational and commer- 
cial enterprise. Yet the blessings of divine 
providence were invoked on the dedication of 
the grounds, and God's ruling hand was rec- 
ognized in all its movements. Each week it 
gave the multitude in attendance from our 
own and all other nations and climes an object 
lesson in the proper observance of the holy 
Sabbath by closing its gates. 

It brought into close intercourse people of 
all countries, it engendered brotherly love and 
respect, it stimulated the patriotism and civic 
pride of our own people, it gave to the United 
States a greater influence over other nations, 
thus adding materially to the efficiency and 
success of our missionaries in pagan fields; it 
stimulated in Americans more respect for and 
interest in people of other nations. 

The best brains of the world were drawn on 
to plan this great university which required 



252 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

the well directed toil of thousands to complete. 
The pupils who came together at this school in- 
cluded all races of all nations. The semester 
closed in seven short months and the people 
returned to their homes in every land, but this 
closing did not mark the end of this the great- 
est of all universal expositions. The material 
ensemble was razed, but the knowledge gained 
became the asset of individuals, and scattered 
to the four quarters of the globe, broadening 
and uplifting humanity. 

The hospitality of The Fair was world-wide. 
In the enclosure were grouped the nations of 
the earth, not only with their shops, stores and 
factories, but their villas and famous struc- 
tures with gardens and lawns surrounding. 
The highest type of this cosmopolitan people 
mingled in social intercourse, giving illus- 
trated force to the universal brotherhood of 
man. The world was here living in miniature 
on a section of Missouri soil. The graces, the 
virtues, the experience, the knowledge of all 
were merged into one fountain which was fed 
by the Christian religion, and from this foun- 
tain all consciously or unconsciously drank. 

The value of The Exposition to the material 
world, in science, in art, in varied industries, 
in commerce, cannot be measured. These les- 



EFFECT OF LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 253 

sons added material and mental wealth to man, 
yet the physical and mental are closely linked 
to the spiritual, and the spiritual being the 
greater shared more largely in the benefits. 

We need not refer to the many meetings and 
conventions in the realm of religion where 
bright minds from all parts of the world ex- 
changed thought and counsel, stimulating 
courage, pride and enthusiasm in religious 
work, "as steel sharpeneth steel, so mind sharp- 
eneth mind." To these conventions the secu- 
lar and religious press have given wide pub- 
licity. 

The multitude of individual Christians, in- 
cluding preacher and layman, was inspired to 
more exalted views of God and His wisdom ; 
they saw His hand in the great works of art ; 
they heard His voice in the hum of industrial 
machinery, and this enlarged thought became 
a part of them and through them is being dif- 
fused through all parts of the earth. 

These earnest students filled the pews of our 
city churches on the Sabbath both morning 
and evening. On communion days at my 
church we distribute communion cards; on 
these the names and addresses showed vis- 
itors, each Sabbath, from twenty to thirty 
states, also a number from foreign countries. 



254 EFFECT OF LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 

Our city church members yielding their seats 
to visitors and attending the duties of hospital- 
ity incident to the entertainment of the large 
inflow, were not so regular in attendance dur- 
ing the exposition, but since they have resum- 
ed their church duties with enlarged and 
broader Christian spirit, with increased broth- 
erly love which embraces a larger circle tak- 
ing in the whole human family. 

The effect of the Louisiana Purchase Expo- 
sition on religion was a great stride in the tri- 
umphant march of truth and righteousness. 



BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS. 



BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS FOR 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 



XX. 

BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS. 

The present generation of American Bap- 
tists is in the full enjoyment of civil and re- 
ligious liberty. We are living at a time of ex- 
traordinary prosperity and happiness, in a 
nation of the highest national honor, distinc- 
tion and power. 

"Lest we forget" the cost of this priceless 
boon, and fail to appreciate its value, let us re- 
view the struggle which secured to us this pre- 
cious heritage and pay the tribute of grateful 
hearts to the heroes of the battle. 

We would not rob the patriot's crowns that 
justly adorn the brow of the heroes of the New 
England and other Southern colonies of one 
jewel ; they nobly did their part in the struggle 
for freedom. The facts of unquestioned his- 
tory point to the Baptists of Virginia as one of 
the most, if not the most, potent factors in the 
memorable crisis that gave to America civil 
and religious liberty. 

Conditions made the fight for religious free- 
dom, and the separation of church and state, 
more fierce in Virginia than in any of the other 
colonies, and the complete victory there was 
several years in advance. 

17 



258 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Virginia was settled by a cavalier class from 
England. They were not driven from the 
mother country by stress of religious restraint, 
but brought with them the established church. 
So strong was the Episcopal church entrench- 
ed in the political organization of the colony, 
that Baptists were not able to get and main- 
tain a hold in that commonwealth until after 
the toleration act of William and Mary, 1689. 

The charter of Virginia, 1606, provided that 
"The true word and service of God and Chris- 
tian faith be preached, planted and used ac- 
cording to the doctrines, rites and religion now 
professed and established within our realm,'' 
which was the Episcopal. 

This provision in the charter was strength- 
ened by subsequent legislation of the colony, 
and under this exclusive system, the Episco- 
pacy became persecutors of all dissenters. Per- 
sons who settled in the colony were required 
to appear before the Episcopal minister and 
state their religious views, and failing to do 
so were publicly whipped. They were not al- 
lowed to worship except in the meeting house 
of the established church. Taxes were levied 
to support Episcopal ministers and purchase 
glebe lands. Should a dissenter fail to attend 
the regular service he was heavily fined. The 



BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS. 259 

penalty for refusing to have an infant baptized 
was a fine of two thousand pounds of tobacco. 
We here quote from the laws of Virginia: 
"Whereas, many persons out of their averse- 
ness to the orthodox established religion, or 
out of the new fangled conceits of their hereti- 
cal inventions, refuse to have their children 
baptized, Be it therefore enacted, that all per- 
sons who in contempt of the divine sacrament 
of baptism, shall refuse when they may carry 
their child to a lawful minister in that county 
to have it baptized, shall be amerced two 
thousand pounds of tobacco, half to go to the 
informer and half to the public treasury." 

Notwithstanding these persecutions Virgin- 
ia Baptists refused to have their infants bap- 
tized and their ministers continued preaching 
the gospel; and today in Virginia there are a 
number of Baptist meeting houses built on 
ground hallowed by the preaching of Baptist 
martyrs through prison bars. 

In 1774 James Madison, not a Baptist, wrote 
to a friend in Pennsylvania: "That diaboli- 
cal, hell-conceived principle of persecution 
rages here, and to the eternal infamy of the 
persecutors be it said the clergy can furnish 
their quoto of imps for such purposes. There 
are at this time, in an adjacent county, not less 



260 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

than five or six well meaning men in close jail 
confinement for publishing their religious sen- 
timents, which in the main are very orthodox." 
These men were Baptist ministers. 

The persecutions of Virginia Baptists in 
their determined struggle for soul-freedom 
developed an enduring and uncompromising 
spirit of liberty which made them a potent 
force in the revolutionary struggle. 

The young lawyer, Patrick Henry, in 1763, 
in the famous case of the people resisting the 
Episcopal ministers, gathered his inspiration 
from the spirit of persecuted Virginia Bap- 
tists, and this was the beginning of the devel- 
opment of his patriotic spirit which blazed 
forth in an eloquence that lighted the spark of 
resistance to British oppression lying dormant 
in the hearts of Americans. 

The protracted persecutions of Virginia 
Baptists made them vigilant in seizing every 
opportunity to contribute to the growing com- 
plications between the American colonies and 
England. As citizens they struggled for civil 
liberty, as Christians for religious freedom. 
They never lost sight of the abolition of all 
legal ecclesiastical distinction. The crisis 
growing out of the exactions of the mother 
country impelled them to struggle more vig- 



BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS. 261 

orously for religious freedom and separation 
of church and state, not only for themselves 
but for all, Christian, Jew and Infidel. 

In 1775 the General Association of the Bap- 
tists of Virginia memorialized the Virginia 
Convention to make military resistance to 
Great Britain setting forth in a declaration of 
principles, "that the mere toleration of relig- 
ion by the civil government is insufficient — 
that no state religious establishment ought to 
exist: that all religious denominations ought 
to stand on the same footing." The committee 
in charge of this memorial secured some con- 
cessions, which only stimulated the Baptists 
to greater energy and more vehement protest. 

The Episcopal clergy circulated a petition to 
make the Episcopacy a permanent legal estab- 
lishment. The efforts of Virginia Baptists to 
counteract this measure secured the names of 
ten thousand freeholders to a petition to de- 
feat it. As a result the constitution of Virgin- 
ia adopted in 1776, enjoys the distinction of 
being the first written constitution for a free, 
sovereign and independent state which the his- 
tory of the world was called forth. As first 
written it provided for the fullest religious tol- 
eration, but the Virginia Baptists with the as- 
sistance of James Madison had the word toler- 



262 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

ation struck out and inserted the famous sec- 
tion, "That religion, or the duty we owe to our 
Creator and the manner of discharging it, can 
be directed only by reason and conviction, not 
by force or violence, and therefore all men are 
equally entitled to the free exercise of religion 
according to the dictates of conscience; and 
that it is the mutual duty of all to practice 
Christian forbearance, love and charity toward 
each other." 

Animated by victories achieved Virginia 
Baptists set in motion every current possible 
against the existing established church. They 
circulated petitions and secured the introduc- 
tion of a bill, which, after a conflict of nearly 
one month, was passed repealing the laws 
which restrained religious freedom. This was 
a blow which shook the tottering Episcopal 
supremacy, and its friends made a desperate 
effort to stay the falling fabric. They succeed- 
ed in securing a declaration that provisions 
ought to be made for continuing the succes- 
sion of the clergy and superintending their con- 
duct. The Virginia Baptists, in 1777, petition- 
ed the legislature to repeal all laws still stand- 
ing on the statute books interfering with re- 
ligious liberty and protesting vehemently 
against maintenance of a state church. This 



BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS. 263 

was met by a counter petition of the Episco- 
palians and Methodists. The result was the 
repealing of all laws authorizing- the collection 
of taxes to support the clergy. 

The next move of the Virginia Baptists was 
to secure the sale of the glebe lands and defeat 
the bill which had been introduced and en- 
grossed authorizing the collection of a general 
tax for the support of all teachers of Christian 
religion. In their remonstrance they stated 
"That it was repugnant to the spirit of the gos- 
pel for the state to support religion by taxa- 
tion, that its holy Author needed no compul- 
sive measures for the support of His cause, 
that the proposed law would be destructive to 
religious liberty." 

In this fight they had the assistance of 
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George 
Mason, and against them were arrayed George 
Washington and John Marshall who feared 
morals and religion would greatly suffer if the 
preachers were not supported by taxation. See- 
ing there was danger of the success of the 
measure if brought to a vote the opponents 
postponed action till the next session, when 
the legislature was overwhelmed with remon- 
strances secured by Virginia Baptists, and its 
advocates surrendered without further strug- 



264 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

gle. Jefferson seized the opportunity and in- 
troduced the bill that secured liberty of con- 
science and the separation of church and state. 
This was soon followed by the sale of the glebe 
lands, turning the proceeds into the state treas- 
ury. 

Dr. Hawks, the Episcopal historian, says : 
"Persecution had taught the Virginia Baptists 
not to love the establishment. In their asso- 
ciation they had calmly discussed the matter 
and resolved on their course. In this course 
they were consistent to the end, and the war 
which they waged against the established 
church was a war of extermination. They 
seem to have known no relentings, and their 
hostility never ceased for twenty-seven years." 
The Virginia Baptists, in a struggle lasting 
twenty-seven years, had won the victory of 
civil and religious liberty and the separation of 
church and state. 

The most important event affecting the in- 
terests of Baptists in the history of the Amer- 
ican colonies was the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. In that instrument Thomas Jefferson 
poured out the soul of the Baptist spirit. The 
inspiring influence of this monumental docu- 
ment on the character and political conduct of 
the people of this Republic is beyond compute. 



BATTLE OF VIRGINIA BAPTISTS. 265 

It was the greatest stride toward civil and re- 
ligious freedom in the world's history — an in- 
vincible bulwark in support of the dignity of 
man, the sacredness of personality, the sancti- 
ty of religious freedom. The influence of this 
classic statement of political truths. is now felt 
in all countries and is gradually robbing the 
autocrat of arbitrary power over the individu- 
al. With the altruistic spirit of this instru- 
ment America is influencing the world and 
will gradually spread through it her religion. 

Virginia Baptists did much to place the 
laurel wreath of freedom on America's brow. 
Their determined spirit was a potential factor 
in securing her independence. It permeated 
with its leavening influence such men as Jef- 
ferson, Henry and Madison, securing their co- 
operation in the successful fight for freedom of 
conscience, which carried with it civil liberty. 

To Virginia Baptists, liberty lovers of the 
world owe a debt of gratitude. 



WOELD NOW EEADY FOR BIBLE 
TRUTHS. 



WORLD NOW READY FOR BIBLE 
TRUTHS. 

A greeting from America to the Baptist World Congress. 



Initiatory Service. 

Baptist World Congress, London. 

Regent Park, July, 10, 1905. 



XXI. 

WORLD NOW READY FOR BIBLE 
TRUTHS. 

American Baptists esteem it a high privilege 
to meet the Baptists of the world on the soil 
of their mother country, the country of Shake- 
speare who gave to mankind its richest legacy 
of literature, a potent factor in making English 
the dominant language of the race, the coun- 
try of those contemporary lovers of liberty, 
Cromwell, Milton, Bunyan, whose very names 
are loved by every intelligent American. The 
home of Spurgeon, the memory of whose life 
we cherish as an object-lesson in prayer, faith 
and work. 

We rejoice to greet, in person, the venerable 
Dr. Maclaren whose sermons for two score 
years have been a mighty help to the preachers 
of America. 

We are happy to be in touch with this great 
gathering in the historic city of London, which 
for centuries has been the radiating centre of 
the world's progress, civilization and Chris- 
tianization and here in the heart of this throb- 
bing life gather information and inspiration 
from the lips of representative Baptists from 
all parts of the earth. 

269 



27o THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Four-fifths of the Baptists of the world live 
in America, and, shall I say, it is one of the 
greatest countries with the best and freest 
government that has existed among men. I 
am sure you will pardon the pride of an Amer- 
ican Baptist in his country, when you remem- 
ber that American Baptists were the most po- 
tential force in planting the tree of civil and 
religious liberty whose fruitage is now ripen- 
ing throughout the world. It was in America 
that the free spirit of man threw off its last 
fetters. American Baptists planted the seed of 
religious liberty. They nurtured and defended 
it with their lives and fortunes. This plant 
struggled in its growth, watered by the tears 
of persecuted Baptists, protected by their fi- 
delity and devotion to truth, for a hundred and 
fifty years, when it bloomed into the beauty 
and glory of civil and religious freedom. 

To flourish, Baptist principles must have in- 
dividual freedom. This truth was illustrated in 
England where under the political ascendency of 
Cromwell, Baptists increased to 120,000, while 
under the arbitrary rule of restored King Charles 
II they were reduced to less than 20,000. Since 
this period the increase of Baptists in England 
has been in proportion to her advance in civil 
and religious liberty. 



READY FOR BIBLE TRUTHS. 2?i 

In 1 63 1 Roger Williams, an apostle of relig- 
ious freedom, left the religious restraint that 
existed in England, and went to America 
where he preached a few years to the colonists 
of Massachusetts when they refused to toler- 
ate his advanced ideas of separation of church 
and state and banished him. With a few fol- 
lowers he went to the wilderness of Rhode 
Island and founded a commonwealth, based on 
freedom of conscience and separation of church 
and state. In 1639 he organized a church on 
the lines of those with which he had been asso- 
ciated. Later, in his search of Scripture, he 
could find no authority for the baptism of un- 
believers or infants, so he and the entire church 
were baptized, becoming the first church of 
baptized believers in America. 

From that moment Baptists grew in strength 
and numbers, though followed with bitter per- 
secutions by the state and by other denomi- 
nations, especially the Episcopal, which was 
the established church in a number of the col- 
onies. They were branded as heretics, their 
preachers were imprisoned, and they were 
heavily fined for refusing to have their infants 
baptized. Yet they continued loyal to truth 
and conviction. Their zeal for truth and free- 
dom furnished inspiration for the eloquence of 



272 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Patrick Henry. It inspired the Declaration of 
Independence voiced by Thomas Jefferson. In 
their fight for separation of church and state 
they had to resist the powerful influence of 
Washington. After more than a century of 
struggle, Baptists unhampered by state inter- 
ference, the influence of pope, bishop, or eccles- 
iastical edicts, had a congenial home in Amer- 
ica where they could worship God in simplic- 
ity and truth with no man-made creed between 
them and the inspired Book. Where they could 
emphasize the basal fact for which Baptists 
stand — the spirituality of the Kingdom of God 
and loyalty to its King — Christ alone — the on- 
ly source of eternal life. 

A century ago in America we had only 900 
churches with less than 90,000 members. We 
now have 46,000 churches with 4,800,000 mem- 
bers. 27,000 Sunday schools with more than 
2,000,000 scholars, 218 institutions of learning 
with 47,000 students, school property and en- 
dowment $48,000,000 and $102,000,000 in 
church property. 

We gave, during the past year for missions 
aside from the support of our churches and 
the immediate mission work connected with 
each church, $1,617,931.00. 



READY FOR BIBLE TRUTHS. 273 

The increase of population of the United 
States, during the past century is without a 
parallel in history, yet the ratio of increase of 
Baptists is five times that of population. 

The world is making rapid strides toward 
individual freedom, and with the wonderful 
increase of knowledge is getting a clearer view 
of truth, and becoming keenly alive to an in- 
terest in spiritual things. These conditions are 
conducive to the spread of Baptist principles. 
God in His wisdom has opened the secrets of 
nature, enabling all the inhabitants of earth 
to live as neighbors, enlarging the scope of the 
command, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." 
Baptists have but one lamp by which they are 
guided, Christ "The Light of the World." His 
light shines in all its effulgence in his last com- 
mand, "Go make disciples." 

The world is largely indebted to English 
Baptists who sustained the immortal Carey 
in the missionary field, and to America for 
the support of Judson. What a change in the 
world's condition since Carey and Judson 
wrought! The Bible is now translated into 
every language and almost every dialect. With 
the printed page we can give every message 
of Christ a million tongues, and with rapid 
transit send missionaries to every family of 
earth. 
18 



274 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Shall we not make this gathering, the first 
of its kind in the life of the world, this epochal 
event in Baptist progress, count for the King- 
dom of God? Shall we not plan to send the 
gospel in its purity to every nation and in- 
dividual on Earth ? Shall we not return to our 
homes with purpose, clear and definite, to in- 
spire the millions we represent to renewed and 
glowing zeal to extend the reign of Christ in 
human hearts? 

The world was never so ready for the gos- 
pel as now, resources in the hands of Baptists 
never so great, facilities for effective work nev- 
er so perfect, our people never so harmonious 
and united, our knowledge of truth and duty 
never so clear. The world is now ripe for Bap- 
tist principles. Will not the great army of world 
wide Baptist Brotherhood move mightily for- 
ward in the strength of their God, under the 
command of their King, "Go ye into all the 
world and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture r 



THE BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 



THE BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 



Address : 
Missouri Baptist General Association, 
Waebexsburg, Mo., 
October 26, 1905. 



XXII. 

THE BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 

The history of the world is the story of God 
revealing Himself to man. His presence is in 
every movement that marks the progress of 
the race. His first code of laws was written 
on tablets of stone, but on the day of Pente- 
cost He sent His spirit to write them on human 
hearts. 

For nineteen centuries the Christian world 
has been reading and listening to the story of 
the out-pouring of the Spirit in that upper 
chamber. Christendom has not yet fully grasp- 
ed the mighty significance of that momentous 
event ; nor has it utilized all the powers then 
bestowed. 

We cannot compare the Baptist World Con- 
gress to Pentecost, in importance, but an ob- 
server can see too much wisdom in the time 
and place of the meeting, and its spiritual pow- 
er to exclude the guiding hand of Jehovah from 
the influences that brought it to pass. 

Pentecost was an opening of the windows of 
heaven to endow the church with power from 
on high. So the world meeting of Baptists in 
London was an opening of heaven's windows 
through which flowed the "Kindly Light" on 

277 



278 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

an assembly representing more tongues than 
were spoken at Jerusalem on the day of Pen- 
tecost. 

No event in Baptist history has done so 
much to lift us above the boundary lines of 
nations, and give us a view of our field, the 
world. No event has given us such a concept- 
ion of the universal sweep of our mission, the 
discipling of all nations. 

This meeting revealed Baptists to one an- 
other, it intensified Christ-born love, it created 
a co-operative unity for world wide work. Here 
disciples of all countries and tongues met, and 
in fellowship, in prayer, in hand clasp, struck 
fire from soul to soul. 

Soul helps soul in spiritual climbing. Great 
meetings are a part of God's divine economy, 
enabling believers, by mutual sympathy and 
unity of purpose, to multiply their powers. 

Where thousands of souls aflame with God 
meet in accord it gives the opportunity to sit 
together in heavenly places, to cultivate spir- 
itual fervor, to inspire larger vision. 

Momentum comes with organized numbers. 
An army feels something not felt by a crowd ; 
every soldier receives something from the com- 
bination, and unconscious of giving, he is 
strongly conscious of receiving. Likewise in 



BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 27 9 

spiritual fellowship, all gain something. There 
is an evidence of that invisible presence, whose 
life, pressing upon all, overflows from each to 
each, awakening subtler sympathy, kindling 
fresh enthusiasm, inspiring nobler impulses, im- 
parting higher ideals, creating greater power. 

This multiplication of power, resulting from 
the assembling of thousands of all tongues and 
climes, was needed by Baptists. 

At the roll call of nations, in a flash of words 
of three minutes, the speakers gave a vivid pic- 
ture of the trials and triumphs of the country 
they represented. Strong Baptist communities 
were made stronger by giving sympathy and 
courage to the weak, and the weak were 
strengthened by the consciousness of the spir- 
itual bond that bound them to the strong. This 
call of the roll of the nations of the world was 
an intense moment. From every land came 
assurance of oneness of spirit, oneness of doc- 
trine, oneness of loyalty to Christ. 

Few things are so uplifting as coming in 
contact with a great man whose life embodies 
the cause he espouses. The spontaneity and 
enthusiasm with which Dr. Maclaren, the Pres- 
ident of the Congress, was greeted revealed 
appreciative hearts for this man of God. In 
this generation of great preachers he is easily 



28o THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

the first. His exposition of gospel truth bears 
striking evidence of faithful study of Scripture 
and nearness to God. This., with his high char- 
acter, led the Congress to listen with eager- 
ness to every word that fell from his lips. Sail 
he. "I beseech you to remember two crystal 
phrases which carry everything I wish to say. 
'In the name of Christ" 'By the power of the 
Spirit.' 

"If you are not right in the relation of the 
living Christ and the relation of the indwell- 
ing Spirit., you are all wrong however ortho- 
dox, eloquent, and learned." Said he. ''The 
Christian church of to-day is more fully pos- 
sessed with longing for the experience of that 
higher life that comes from the indwelling Spir- 
it than ever before, and Christian theology is 
following the leading of Christian experience. 

T look forward to the time when there will 
be far more prominence given to the indwelling 
Spirit, and life of holiness and power than has 
been, — I pray this Congress may do something 
to bring all our brethren nearer to the only source 
of life and power." 

The greeting of the Free Church Council 
was a great object lesson to the wider exercise 
of brotherly love. It was timely, and opened 
broader channels for the flow of Christian fel- 



BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 281 

lowship. Dr. Maclaren expressed the feeling 
of the Congress when, in answer to their warm 
greeting, he gave expression to reciprocal feel- 
ings of fraternal love to dear friends who, 
though differing in some points, felt the same 
heart throb of love for Christ. 

Dr. Prestridge, speaking for America, said: 
"We extend to you the greeting of warm and 
sympathizing hearts in your struggle for free- 
dom of conscience. There is one fundamental 
division of the human family, the free and the 
not free. Freedom is the choicest fruit of civil- 
ization. In the spirit of freedom I extend the 
hand of American Baptists to the representa- 
tives of the Free Church Council and bid you 
God speed." 

One cannot observe the warm fellowship ex- 
isting among all the Protestant denominations 
of England, their unity and co-operation, not 
only to resist laws oppressive to freedom of 
conscience, but in work of philanthropy and 
evangelism, without being led to think that 
the Protestants of America would add greatly 
to their spiritual progress and multiply their 
power for resisting public evils by closer unity 
and co-operation. In England they not only 
unite to promote measures for social advance- 
ment, and liberty of conscience, but in the Kes- 



282 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

wick movement they come together for spirit- 
ual uplift, the cultivation of brotherliness, and 
the glory of their oneness in Christ. 

When the grievances of the Non-Conformists 
were brought before the Congress, the great 
Welch layman, Lloyd George, M. P., aroused 
feelings of indignation when he poured forth 
in burning eloquence his arraignment of Par- 
liament for the iniquitous educational act. The 
feeling became more intense when Dr. John 
Clifford, the champion of religious liberty, the 
foremost Baptist of England, and now Presi- 
dent of the Baptist World Alliance, explained 
the workings of the law and in thunder tones 
pronounced its doom. Said he, "The law of 
liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over 
race, of class over class, faith over faith, and 
we shall not rest till we see our primary edu- 
cation fashioned in obedience to that law." 

The question of missions is the vital one 
with Baptists, and the word pictures of the 
trials and triumphs in foreign fields gave a 
panoramic view of the condition and needs of 
the world. 

Dr. Mabie, our prime minister of foreign 
missions, stirred by the graphic pictures given 
by missionaries, was at his best. His address 
showed that his great heart was in his work. 



BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 283 

He said it was when in China that his eyes 
were opened to the fact that missionary work 
was the extension of the incarnation of our 
Lord. That to be a missionary of Jesus was to 
move out of one's self. 

Dr. Morehouse told the thrilling story of 
Home Missions in America. He said "America 
is a world magnet," drawing to her shores peo- 
ple of all the countries of Asia and Europe. 
These people we must meet with the gospel, 
not only for their salvation, but for our own 
preservation. 

A splendid paper by Dr. Carver was pre- 
sented with telling effect. In closing he said, 
"England touches no land without lifting it 
into larger life and bringing it nearer heaven. 
As Americans, we rejoice that our own coun- 
try has come to be a factor for opening of doors 
and building of highways for the new day that 
is now dawning." 

Dr. Richards held up the great empire of 
China so as to enlist the entire Congress in her 
teeming millions. Dr. Gardner drew a portrait 
of Japan with like effect. 

Almost every country and clime was placed 
before the Congress, its condition and needs 
painted in burning words by those fresh from 
the scenes. The Congress was a great school 



284 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

for Baptists. It gave them a higher conception 
of their mission and stirred them to fulfill it. 

In the largest Protestant church in the 
world, the great church founded by Spurgeon. 
Dr. Strong delivered the Congress sermon. 
His subject was "The Greatness of Christ." 
It was a masterful exposition of gospel truth, 
setting a high standard of spiritual power, 
opening bright visions and holding out hopes 
for realizing them. 

The papers on modern criticism evidenced 
thought and research. They were character- 
ized not only by culture, but by a reverence 
for and a faith in the revelations of God con- 
tained in the Holy Scriptures. 

The paper by Dr. Mullins was the best in its 
line it has been my privilege to hear or read. 
He unfolded the blessings and consistencies of 
the gospel and carried one along with convinc- 
ing power. "With gentle, but strong and skil- 
ful hands he removed the harsh characteristics 
sometimes attributed to Jehovah, yet declared 
His right to be sovereign. Said he "All men 
have equal right to direct access to God. All 
believers have equal privileges in the church. 
To be responsible man must be free.'' Calm 
and deliberate, with a clear conception of truth, 
he expressed his thoughts in a way that does 






BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 285 



not antagonize, but draws and makes one feel 
the truth of what he says. I count this paper 
the strongest and most brilliant contribution 
to religious literature made by the Congress. 

A few words spoken by the greatest laymen 
among English Baptists, Judge Willis, appeal- 
ed to me as a stronger support of gospel truth 
than any of the words of the educators and 
preachers. Said he ? "Faith in Christ has its 
origin in and rests upon experience. It does not 
rest on the trembling foundation of New Testa- 
ment criticism. Christ says : 'Ye that believe are 
my witnesses, not to my birth, death and res- 
urrection do you testify, but you have exper- 
ienced my power to save.' " 

The great meeting at Albert Hall was a fit- 
ting close to the Congress which had evolved 
into a Baptist World Alliance. The venerable 
Dr. Maclaren in the opening prayer carried the 
great gathering tenderly to the very gates of 
heaven as he led them to their fathers' God. 
No speech of the Congress so moved those pres- 
ent as this prayer. 

This meeting was largely one of rejoicing 
over the great benefits that had come and 
would come from the Congress. Yet one of 
the greatest speeches of the Congress was made 
at this the closing hour. It was by our own 
E. W. Stephens. 



286 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

With the brush of his analytical mind he re- 
touched the features of the Congress and im- 
pressed the blessings it had been and would be. 
not only to Baptists, but to the world. Said 
he: "It has given us a better understanding of 
each other and knit us into closer sympathy, 
enriched us in knowledge of our denomination- 
al polity, and brought Baptists of the entire 
world into a unity of organization, a singleness 
of thought and purpose they never had be- 
fore."' Said he, "No assembly in the history of 
Baptists and few in the annals of mankind 
have been of more far-reaching importance." 

Mr. Stephens outlined a standard for preach- 
ers that we would do well to hang in flaming 
letters on the walls of our studies and theo- 
logical seminaries. But the feature of his ad- 
dress was the appeal to laymen of whom he 
is one. If the great army of laymen would 
follow his suggestions the problem of evangel- 
ism would be solved. 

We have said the great meeting at Albert 
Hall marked the closing of the Congress. X: ! 
The climacteric close was on Elstow Green, fifty 
miles from London. It was amid scenes hal- 
lowed by memories associated with Bunyan 
that the Congress reached the high tide of the 
power of the Spirit. To Baptists no spot in old 



BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS. 287 

England is more sacred than Elstow Green, 
for Bunyan who was Baptist faith incarnate, 
here lived and loved. Clifford was the orator. 
He held the great standing audience of thou- 
sands spell bound as he portrayed John Bun- 
yan. He spoke of "Grace Abounding to the 
Chief of Sinners," as the greatest religious 
classic, and a picture of Bunyan's heart exper- 
ience, and of "Pilgrim's Progress," both of 
which were inspired in Bedford Jail where 
Bunyan for twelve years was shut out from the 
world and shut in by prison bars to close com- 
munion with God. 

Not every Peter has been released by an an- 
gel for the world's benefit. More have been 
retained for the same purpose. Dungeons have 
exerted a telling influence on the kingdom of 
God. 

Joseph's prison career shaped the history of 
Israel. Daniel's experience in the lions' den 
is influencing millions of Sunday School chil- 
dren to-day. In the solitude of the Mamer- 
tine prison Paul's Epistles bore richer fruitage 
than all his active labors. The sea side cell 
on Patmos still exhales the fragrance of John's 
vision. 

It was behind the bars of Bedford jail Bun- 
yan in close communion with God lent his 



288 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 



light to millions of pilgrims from the City of 
Destruction to the City Celestial. 

We do not know how much the world owes 
to enforced confinement by which noble lives 
have been pressed into prolonged and secret 
communion with God, but we do know that 
every life may cultivate at liberty commun- 
ion with God and receive His power. Evan 
Roberts, breathing the free and bracing air of 
the Welch mountains, is a living embodiment 
of the phrases Dr. Maclaren so strongly im- 
pressed on the Congress, "In the name of Christ,'"' 
and "By the power of the Spirit." 



OBSERVATION OF MEN AND 
CONDITIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



19 



OBSERVATION OF MEN AND 
CONDITIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



Summer 1905. 



XXIII. 

OBSERVATION OF MEN AND 
CONDITIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

The activity in religious thought which now 
prevails in England and Wales, and the meet- 
ing of representative Baptists of the world in 
London, made my observations the past two 
months rich in contact with leaders of relig- 
ious progress. 

In America all are free to worship according 
to dictates of conscience. There is no connec- 
tion between church and state, and no favors 
to any denomination by civil laws, consequent- 
ly there is little friction and no opposition be- 
tween Protestant denominations, and scarcely any 
between Protestant and Roman Catholics. 

In England it is vastly different. All Prot- 
estant denominations are closely allied. This 
union is an organization called the Free Church 
Council composed of representatives of all 
protestant churches, and is the result of dis- 
crimination by the general government against 
all Protestants and in favor of the established 
church. 

This condition has drawn them together in 
their fight for freedom of conscience and sep- 
aration of church and state. What is called 



291 



292 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

the minor differences have largely disappeared, 
resulting not only in a close union and fellow- 
ship for united resistance to objectionable leg- 
islation, but in work of philanthropy and evan- 
gelism. 

Dr. F. B. Meyer, a Baptist, recently elected 
president of the Baptist Union of Great Brit- 
ain and Ireland, one of the most effective 
among the preachers of London in the spread 
of gospel truth, and one of the world's leaders 
in the propagation of religious thought, is now 
pastor of the largest Congregational church in 
London — Christ's church, made famous by the 
pastorate of Rowland Hill. 

The recognized leader of the Free churches, 
or to make it more clear, the united non-con- 
formists, in resisting encroachments on liberty 
of conscience by the established church in con- 
nection with the government, is Dr. John Clif- 
ford. He is to-day easily the first man in Eng- 
land in the battle for religious freedom. 

He is not only great in declaring gospel 
truth but an active force in the social and polit- 
ical life of England. He is an intrepid leader 
who does things, a man with boundless energy, 
a bright highly cultivated mind, alert to grasp, 
quick to analyze problems, prompt to act on 
convictions. He sees the best in men and hopes, 



OBSERVATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 293 

prays and works to achieve the best. He of- 
ten repeats a phrase that reminds one of the 
words of our own Garfield which he used to 
calm the avenging spirit aroused by the as- 
sassination of Lincoln, "God is in His heaven, 
all's well with the world." 

I can say nothing so well to give an idea of 
the iniquitous educational act that has roused 
the free spirit of man to resistance in Britain, 
as to quote Dr. Clifford's burning words to the 
Baptist World Congress. It carried us back 
to the time when the action of the established 
church in the colonies called forth the burn- 
ing eloquence of Patrick Henry. Americans 
present learned to appreciate anew the boon of 
freedom that came to them through the strug- 
gle and heroism of their patriot fathers. 

Said Dr. Clifford : "The act has created a na- 
tional revolt in Wales, and the passive resist- 
ance movement in England. In eight thousand 
parishes there is only one school for all the 
children whatever their antecedents, whether 
of dissenting or Anglican parents; that school 
is the Anglican school. To it the children 
must go, and in it they may hear their fathers 
and mothers denounced as schismatics, the 
church of their parents condemned as hereti- 
cal, and the belief in which they are trained at 
home labeled as false and wicked. 



294 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

"Wales is in revolt through its chosen repre- 
sentatives from one end to the other. A large 
number are suffering the distraint of their 
goods rather than pay the rates. Magistrates 
have left the bench rather than discharge the 
odious responsibilities of sending men to jail 
for refusing to submit. Nearly two hundred 
persons have been sentenced to imprisonment 
because they would not be disloyal to their 
convictions. They resist the act as did the 
Americans under King George more than a 
century ago on the grounds of no taxation 
without representation. 

"It is not that we seek to abolish a theologi- 
cal test as a condition to State service, but 
chiefly that we refuse to be coerced into financ- 
ing schools to propagate Anglicism, basing 
our opposition on the broad ground that the 
state is usurping functions that do not belong 
to it, robbing the subject of his liberty of con- 
science, thereby imperiling the well being of 
the nation." 

This speech stirred the blood of Americans 
to fever heat, and raised an indignant blush, 
to think such conditions could exist in a land 
so near to them in tongue, in social, commer- 
cial and blood relations. 



OBSERVATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 295 

Dr. Alexander Maclaren of Manchester is 
recognized as the greatest preacher of this gen- 
eration, not as an evangelist, nor as an ag- 
gressive factor in advocating reforms or meas- 
ures of progress, but for his ideal life and lofty 
character together with his highly cultivated 
and fruitful mind, which has poured forth a 
steady stream for more than sixty years laden 
with rich expositions of gospel truths. Through 
the pulpit and press the stamp of this man of 
God has had a powerful influence on the re- 
ligious thought of the world. I feel that to 
grasp his hand and to hear the rich flow of elo- 
quence from his chaste lips, giving all honor 
and glory to Christ was one of the highest 
privileges of my six weeks' stay in London. 

While there has been during the year almost 
a continual revival in England and specially 
in London, among the prominent leaders being 
Meyer, Campbell, Torry and Morgan, all of 
whom are known throughout the religious 
world, the awakening has been more marked 
in Wales under the leadership of Evan Rob- 
erts. 

The Welsh are the most deeply religious 
people on the British Isles. I was entertained 
in a Welsh home among the mountains and 
mines of the most prolific coal district on 



296 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

earth. There stood the harp in the corner. A 
harp is in many homes in Wales. They cultivate 
song from childhood and the voice of the 
Welsh is the most musical and rich for relig- 
ious song I ever heard. Often in their meet- 
ings when they have sung one hymn, without 
announcing, some one will begin another and 
they will sing five or six before stopping. 

In an audience of about a thousand men to 
whom I spoke at the Wales Baptist conven- 
tion, I could discern but one who did not join 
in the singing, an old man. He was over ninety, 
and stood gazing in rapt and joyous attention. 
This was the most warmly responsive audience 
I ever addressed. When I closed they shouted : 
"Hear, hear. Go on, go on !" I continued and 
closing again met the same, "Hear, hear. Go 
on ! go on !" 

I was disappointed in not seeing Evan Rob- 
erts at the convention, and learning he was 
resting about forty miles distant, decided to 
go and see him, but was told he would not be 
disturbed, and was refusing hundreds seek- 
ing an interview. I wired, requesting to see 
him. He answered, "Come, I will see you." 

He was in the home of John Davis, a miner, 
the father of Anna Davis, the leader of song in 
the Evan Roberts meetings. When I arrived 



OBSERVATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 297 

at the village and enquired for the home of 
Mr. Davis, I was told by a reporter it was use- 
less to try to see Roberts as he had refused to 
see any one for two weeks; that a large party 
from Canada went to the house yesterday but 
was not admitted. I found the home, near the 
last in a row of miner's cottages. It was plain 
but fresh and cleanly, surrounded with flowers. 
Looking through the window in the parlor I 
saw an open Bible on the table. Mrs. Davis, 
a sweet faced matronly woman, gave kind sal- 
utation and conducted me to the parlor and 
brought in Evan Roberts. He gave me a 
warm, a typical Welsh greeting and began at 
once to tell of deep experiences in that room 
away from the world, with Jesus and His 
word. Said he, "Satan has been wrestling with 
me for many days but through Christ I have 
overcome and have the sweetest joys and ho- 
liest experiences of my life. This morning I 
rose early and went with Christ into the lone- 
liness and agonies that He suffered for me. 
O, we do not realize how much Jesus has done 
for us, and how near he is to us each hour. 
He is with me this very moment. I feel it. 
I know it." He arose and as he spoke he clasp- 
ed my hand and held it tightly in his grasp 
while he poured forth rich experiences with 



298 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Christ, as the tears rolled down his cheeks ; he 
then broke forth into a strain of thankfulness, 
gratitude and rejoicing. 

I said to him "could you not give me, in a 
single sentence the secret of what you be- 
lieve to be your power with God and man, that 
I may use it in America to stir men to glorify 
Christ?" Closing his eyes and clasping his 
hands, he opened them quickly, "I have it." 
"I am with thee;" claim and appropriate this 
promise, it is the source of service and power. 
"Christ with you, surrender ev'ry sin and self 
ambition and make every moment of your life 
emphasize these words: Tn His name/ 'For 
His sake.' " When he repeated these words, "I 
am with thee, in His name, for His sake," they 
seemed to fill the atmosphere and stand out 
like a blazing flame in the sky on a starless 
night. 

These words have continued sounding in my 
soul ever since: "I am with thee, in His name, 
for His sake." Said he: "He is with you to 
comfort, to strengthen, to guide, to give wit- 
nessing power." 

I insisted that he come to America, that he 
come with me on the Baltic and spend a month 
at Delmar. He closed his eyes and clasped his 
hands. In a few minutes he said : "I have no an- 



OBSERVATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 299 

swer. I could not go unless the Spirit leads, 
but I hope to be led to America later on. If 
so, I will come to St. Louis first." 

After being with him an hour and a half, 
Miss Anna Davis, a young lady of nineteen, of 
fine figure with a beautiful sincere face, came 
in and said, "Mr. Roberts, we must start." I 
found they were going to Cardiff, the same place 
for which I was bound. We took a compartment 
and traveled together. 

At the stations crowds of people and a num- 
ber of reporters gathered about him, but to all 
he said, "I have nothing to say." It is said 
Miss Anna Davis is some day to be Mrs. Rob- 
erts. If so he will have a worthy helpmate. 

Evan Roberts is a prodigy in spiritual in- 
sight. From a tram driver in the coal mines 
he went to the blacksmith shop. Feeling called 
of God to pray for the salvation of Wales, he 
spent many hours each day for more than a 
year in secret prayer to God before making 
known to men the passion of his life. 

He is young, smooth face, only twenty- 
seven, yet within the past year he has awak- 
ened Wales, and his influence has reached the 
uttermost parts of the earth. In Wales alone 
one hundred and fifty-two thousand have made 
profession of faith in Christ and united with 



300 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

the churches. Forty-one thousand of them are 
now baptized believers in Baptist churches. 

Tfye interest continues and many are still be- 
ing added. Thousands of apparently worth- 
less and thoughtless men have been transform- 
ed into zealous followers of Christ and worthy 
citizens. The police courts are without occu- 
pation, and the saloons are deserted. This re- 
ligious movement is one of the most striking 
and effective in the history of Christianity. 

On former visits to Europe, my thought and 
attention were given largely to Cathedrals, 
Museums. Art Galleries and places of historic 
interest: this time more to people and condi- 
tions. 

Ten days of my six weeks stay in London, 
I was entertained in the home of Hon. Albert 
Spicer, M. P. The family life in this elegant 
home was ideal. The evidence of generations 
of gentle breeding and culture was apparent. 
The members of the household were numerous, 
there being eleven children and a dozen ser- 
vants. They were all cheerful and joyous, but 
gentle in word and action. There was not a 
harsh note to mar the beautiful harmony of 
the family circle during my stay. The scene 
at the family altar every morning was elevat- 
ing, impressive, sweet. The father read the 



OBSERVATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 301 

Scripture, the family, including all the servants, 
joined in a hymn of praise, followed by prayer 
led by the father, closing with the Lord's pray- 
er in which all joined. 

My host being a member of parliament gave 
me entree to the House of Lords and Com- 
mons. In listening to the speeches in both 
Houses, also to leading preachers in Lon- 
don, I was impressed by the marked 
difference in the manner of public speak- 
ing in England and America. There it 
is Platonic, didactic, conversational, the 
Oxford style. Not once did I hear the 
oratorical, or grandiloquent so often heard 
here, both from pulpit and platform. A happy 
medium would be advantageous to both. The 
English manner induces thought and reflec- 
tion, while the American arouses enthusiasm 
and action. 

The Tories still hold the reins of govern- 
ment. While I was there the Liberals gained a 
victory, Balfour refused to resign, but in the next 
election the Liberals will win overwhelmingly 
as the passive resistance movement of England 
and Wales has been practically made a plank 
in their platform. 

It was gratifying to see the growing favor 
in the hearts of the people for King Edward. 



302 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

On a former visit, ten years ago, there was a 
misgiving as to how the sportive prince would 
conduct himself on his accession to the throne. 
There was a fear that he would lack wisdom, 
dignity, and grace sufficient for the exalted 
place. He has shown himself fully equal to the 
demands of the high position. He spends vir- 
tually all of his salary of two and a quarter 
million dollars in the interest of his country 
and people. He paid the expense of entertain- 
ing the French navy at Cowes recently, 
some $200,000. This meeting stimulated feelings 
of friendship, displacing those of enmity be- 
tween the English and French, and was the 
first of that nature since the battle of Water- 
loo. 

Thinking of this growing friendship between 
England and France I was impressed with the 
changes made by modern achievement. I left 
London at 4 p. m. arriving in Paris at 10, six 
hours. We crossed the English channel in one 
and a half hours, the great steamer defying the 
billows of its fateful waters. 

While in Paris I was told by a distinguished 
guide that 75 per cent, of the tourists in con- 
tinental Europe were from America. Twenty- 
five per cent, from all the rest of the world. 
I noticed increased attention and respect for 



OBSERVATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 303 

Americans in evidence everywhere. President 
Roosevelt is now the best known man in Eu- 
rope. The editorials of the leading papers of 
England, France and Germany are as eulogis- 
tic of Mr. Roosevelt as those of the American 
press. Our President is to-day easily the first 
man of the world. 

Returning I was gratefully impressed with 
the advanced conditions of ocean travel. Ten 
years ago I was thirty-one days on the ocean, 
and thirty of them as sick as Mark Twain's 
Judge, but had not an uneasiness on this trip. 
The modern floating palace with all the com- 
forts of our best hotels, now plows the ocean 
impervious to storm. The Baltic on which I 
returned cost four million dollars, and when 
she drops into the ocean loaded, displaces forty 
thousand tons of water, and when she starts it 
is as if eighty thousand horses were linked to her 
each pulling his best. 



WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 



WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 



Address: 
Missouri Baptist General Association 
Wabbensbueg. Mo.j 
October 24, 1905. 



XXIV. 
WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 

I recently read the story of a big hearted 
man who determined to reform the world. When 
he approached the task he concluded he would 
best first make his dream a reality in his own 
country. But the task was still too large, so 
he determined to start with his own family; 
here he found something still lacking, and real- 
ized if he would succeed in reforming the world 
he must first put the household of his own 
heart in order. 

My plea is for Missouri Baptists to put their 
own state in order; to see that the gospel of 
Christ is preached to every man, woman and 
child within her borders; to appreciate the 
high privilege, and seize the golden opportu- 
nity of winning their own state to God. 

Our times are giving great inventions that 
are setting the wheels of the world spinning. 
Within a few short years forces have been set 
in motion that have changed the face of the 
earth and revolutionized the history of the 
world. 

These discoveries, together with our great 
natural resources, free institutions, and the 
character and energy of our people, have made 



3 o7 



3 o8 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

America the head servant in God's household 
of nations. 

Mixed blood of the Caucasian race has al- 
ways been the most hardy and enterprising. 
Americans are the most thoroughly mixed peo- 
ple the world has ever seen. In the midst of 
the hardiest, the most powerful of earth's na- 
tions, stands Missouri, the central, the pivotal 
state. 

With boundless resources and a progressive 
spirit, Missouri is rapidly advancing in mater- 
ial and intellectual wealth. Shall we, the Bap- 
tists of this fair state, do our utmost to make 
her spiritual progress keep pace with her ma- 
terial ? 

Brethren, we should not rest on the thought 
that there is little mission work to do in our 
beloved state. There are more than two mil- 
lion people within her borders who have not 
accepted Christ as Savior, and her natural in- 
crease is being reinforced annually by thou- 
sands from other countries. Over a million 
foreigners will land on American soil the pres- 
ent year and of these thousands are making 
their way to Missouri. 

What of the future of this imperial common- 
wealth? Who is to control it people, its 
wealth, its forces, God or Satan? 



WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 309 

Ours is a Christian state. Churches and 
Christian influences are growing in Missouri, 
but evils are growing also. Friends, I do not 
believe there is a more important work for 
Missourians than winning their own state to 
God. 

Patriotism and pride in one's own state are 
a basic virtue of high citizenship. If we would 
have for our children environs that make for 
righteousness and happiness, if we would hand 
down unsullied the blessings we enjoy, we 
must meet the strangers coming to our doors 
with the gospel, we must throw out the life- 
line not only to them, but to the rapidly grow- 
ing home born children who are crowding into 
the ranks of our social and industrial life. 

If Cicero was right when he said a grateful 
heart was the greatest virtue, and the mother 
of all virtues, then the Missourian deeply sins 
who is ungrateful to his God for placing him 
in this state of beauty and bounty. 

Jesus said to His disciples, "Begin at Jerusa- 
lem," and again, "Go home to thy friends and 
tell them what the Lord hath done for thee." 
Missouri is our home and here are our friends. 

Missouri is a pivotal state in the world of 
religion as well as that of commerce and fi- 
nance. Our peculiar position as related to 



3 io THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

North, South, East and West, and to our great 
missionary boards, gives us an unique and po- 
tent position in the religious world. In a meas- 
ure Missouri is in a position to influence the 
spiritual welfare of the nation more than any 
other state. 

I appeal to the laymen of Missouri to take 
a stronger hand in redeeming the people of 
their own state. If the great army of laymen 
of the Baptist churches of the state will make 
the saving of their neighbors the passion of 
their lives, the problem of our state evangeli- 
zation will be solved. 

The church in London that is doing the most 
effective work in saving men, has fifty laymen 
who not only give of their means, but give 
themselves as witnesses for Christ. Many of 
them speak to groups of listeners on the greens 
of London and are leading hundreds to Jesus. 
We do not need great preachers in Missouri, 
so much as great laymen who will talk face to 
face to men about the saving Christ. 

John Wanamaker, one of the greatest mer- 
chants of America, employing ten thousand 
people, selling annually at retail thirty million 
dollars' worth of goods, is equally great as a 
layman witnessing for Christ. With his great 
mercantile enterprise he carries along his du- 



WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 311 

ties to the great enterprise of God's kingdom. 
In 1876, nearly thirty years ago, I was in his 
great store, also the Sunday school in which he 
was a teacher. His earnest words on that Sab- 
bath morning made an impression on my 
young heart that influenced my after life. I 
was again in Philadelphia last week and found 
he was still teaching the Sunday school class 
that had grown to two thousand, the largest in 
the world. The State Sabbath School Asso- 
ciation of Pennsylvania of which he is pres- 
ident was holding its forty-first anniversary 
meeting. I heard him make a simple, earnest 
plea for the extension of the work and within 
a few moments twenty thousand dollars were 
subscribed for the purpose. 

The magnet that draws to Christ is not great 
intellectual ability, nor phenomenal exper- 
iences, but the love of one man's heart for an- 
other. I plead for personal service and the 
larger giving of self to the saving of souls. 

The larger gifts of our denomination are 
going into channels of philanthropy and ed- 
ucation. It is high time for a larger portion 
of our prayers, tears, time and gifts to be pour- 
ed into state mission work. Nothing will take 
the place of evangelism. Education and cul- 
ture are good, but of little value without Christ 
in the heart. 



312 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Missourians who are blest with the genius of 
accumulating should remember that they owe 
something to the state that gave them the op- 
portunity for winning success. While sani- 
tariums and educational institutions are of in- 
estimable value, they should not darken our 
vision for soul saving. Healing, feeding, cloth- 
ing, and educating people will not save them. 
The Christianizing of Missouri is the aim of 
our State Mission Board, and with the achiev- 
ing of this, the political and commercial forces 
of what we call the world will co-operate in 
a certain measure. Great corporations are rec- 
ognizing more and more the value of Chris- 
tian character in men they employ, and today 
the avenues for reaching the industrial armies 
of our cities are open to the gospel messen- 
gers, and next w^eek when Drs. Chivers and 
Woelfkin begin their work of evangelism in 
St. Louis, they will find the doors of our cor- 
porations open to them. 

The great industrial army w T hich now forms 
so large an element in our state must come un- 
der the sway of the kingdom where love is 
law. 

Winning Missouri to God ! What an inspir- 
ing vision ! What a stirring purpose ! A lofty 
purpose becomes an inspiration and feeds all 
high aspirations. 



WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 313 

Missouri Baptists need what the plant has, 
the innate law of upward growth, an affinity for 
the light, a tendency toward the sun. All this 
is found in a noble aim, and where that strikes 
deep root it will struggle toward its object with 
strength and constancy. A purpose can ac- 
complish nothing without action, and action 
little without plan. Therefore we must plan 
larger things for state missions; men who are 
giving tens must give twenties, and fifties; 
men who are giving hundreds must give thou- 
sands. 

If we win Missouri for Christ, politics will 
reform, our city and state governments will 
dissolve partnership with iniquity, business 
strike hands with honesty, labor and capital 
become friends and our state become happy 
and content. 

Let me make a special plea for our city of 
St. Louis. One of the most pathetic incidents 
in the life of Christ was His weeping over the 
city of Jerusalem. In His triumphal march 
when the city came in view, like a flash the vis- 
ion of its woe and shame spread before Him, 
and He wept over it. In the spirit of Christ 
His disciples today are weeping over cities as 
they behold their needs and sorrows. 



314 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

Advancing civilization has not banished 
from the city its woe, nor diminished its shame. 
There is but little change in cities since the 
Psalmist three thousand years ago testified: 
"Wickedness is in the midst thereof, deceit 
and guile depart not from her streets." 

Here extremes meet: Dives and Lazarus 
are brought face to face, the rich and the poor 
meet and appeal to God the maker of both. The 
wretched tenement house and the squalid hut 
of poverty contain no monopoly on sin and suf- 
fering. The gray stone mansion and the bril- 
liantly illumined palace have their sins and 
sorrows and need a Savior. Lindell Boulevard, 
Portland Place and Westmoreland need Jesus 
as sadly as does the river front. 

The congestion in cities multiplies wicked- 
ness by increasing facilities and opportunities 
for crime. Association is recognized as a tre- 
mendous power for good; but it is as great a 
power for evil. 

St. Louis is the nerve center of Missouri. 
It contains nearly one-fourth of its population 
and one-third of its wealth. In this concentra- 
tion of wealth is the centering of business. St. 
Louis does not produce, but manufactures the 
products from many of the communities of the 
state. It is the depot for accumulating and 






WINNING MISSOURI TO GOD. 315 

redistributing the surplus and manufactured 
product. It thus becomes the magnet drawing 
to itself the ability of the state. The develop- 
ment of business brains leads active men to 
the city in answer to the law of supply and de- 
mand. 

Social and educational advantages also draw 
many to the city, and the unemployed move to 
the city in the hope of rinding employment or 
an easier and more idle life. 

With this steady inflow from all parts of the 
state making closer the tie between city and 
country, ought not we to see that the environs 
of this incoming tide shall be such as will make 
for righteousness? 

Temptations to evil are many and active in 
the city; the saloon, the low theatre, and houses 
of shame are wide open, ever enticing all to 
drink of their poison. 

The remedy is not good government-clubs, 
moral reforms, prohibition crusades, nor so- 
cialistic schemes. The very best of these heal 
but slightly. All human means are destined 
to fail. The divine remedy is the gospel. The 
only power that can save the city is the power 
that can save a soul. If moral reformation will 
not save a soul, neither will it save a city. 



316 THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 

In spite of the fact that all the denominations 
are building up great churches in St. Louis, the 
awful fact remains that the masses are dying 
without Christ. 

The problem of city missions is the greatest 
that taxes the mind and moves the heart of the 
church of Christ to-day. 



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